LTS Newsletter: June 2026

Library Technology Services, Harvard Library

Welcome to Library Technology Service’s occasional newsletter for anyone interested in Harvard Library IT.

Harvard Geospatial Library

The Harvard Geospatial Library has an improved front-end! LTS recently deployed GeoBlacklight5. In addition to many security updates and switching to OKTA for authentication, we have adopted the current GeoBlacklight metadata schema, called Aardvark. We can now harvest updated records from partner institutions, and they can once again harvest from Harvard. A special thank you to Marc McGee, Anna He, and Eliot Jordan for working with LTS to implement GeoBlacklight5.

MPS Liveness Checks

The Media Presentation Service (MPS) is the system that handles how certain digital objects are ingested, delivered, and presented to our end users. MPS is made up of nearly 40 interconnected components which makes it challenging to support. Over the past year, the LTS Discovery Portfolio team has made MPS more reliable by improving how it monitors its own health. In the past, many checks only confirmed that a component was running; now, the system actively tests whether it can reach outside resources that it depends on, such as databases and cloud storage. If one of those outside resources has a brief outage, the affected MPS component can now automatically restart itself. This reduces the impact of short-term disruptions, improves overall system performance, and avoids the need for human intervention. The project began in June 2025 and was completed in mid-June 2026.

Expanding Proactive Security Maintenance with AI

The Discovery Portfolio Team manages a large and varied suite of products, which requires a steady stream of behind-the-scenes work to keep everything stable and secure. With vulnerabilities multiplying and developer time always at a premium, the team has been looking for new ways to stay on top of security before the portfolio is exposed to significant risk.

In a recent example, the team's project manager identified a gap in how third-party dependencies were being monitored. Standard automated tools, like GitHub's Dependabot, don't surface deprecated package versions or track major version updates. She researched the problem, designed the logic, and used Claude Code to build a tool that proactively scans package registries, cross-references end-of-life data for major frameworks, and produces a clean, human-readable report the team can review to strategically prioritize upcoming updates.

It’s worth noting that our project manager is not a developer! The solution she developed is a practical example of AI tooling expanding what's possible outside traditional engineering roles.

Interested in the approach? The team is happy to share! Please reach out to Enrique Diaz.

HOLLIS for Archival Discovery: Update Roundup

The new HOLLIS for Archival Discovery launched in January, marking a major step forward for access to archival collections. Since the launch, several important enhancements and process improvements have been implemented.

An early issue with the digital content viewer—where some material did not render correctly—was resolved in March using strengthened security controls. Because the new system is stricter about EAD XML, some finding aids with errors could not be published or generate PDFs. To address this, weekly error reports are now sent to repositories so problems can be corrected quickly.

User feedback gathered over two months using a banner survey produced 53 responses. Users highlighted issues and provided suggestions that guided subsequent fixes and enhancements. For example, the “page not found” screen was redesigned to better support users following links from the legacy system.

This spring, LTS engaged a vendor for a second development phase focused on security updates, UX improvements, and alignment with Harvard’s new image delivery system, informed by fresh user research. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to HOLLIS for Archival Discovery’s success so far.

In Library Access to Restricted Digital Images

Library Technology Services (LTS) has restored access to high-resolution restricted digital images from public computers in libraries on campus while work continues on a long-term solution. The interim approach restores IP-based verification plus a HarvardKey popup for visitors using designated public workstations. Due to standardized browser configurations, the temporary fix works with Firefox and Microsoft Edge, but not Chrome (Chrome’s configuration does not support the use of pop-ups.) With this short-term solution in place, library staff no longer need to contact LTS for visitor access in time-sensitive situations.

In parallel, LTS is implementing OpenAthens (OA) as the permanent access and authentication solution for library visitors, similar to how access to licensed e-resources is now provided. When the OA rollout is complete, the interim solution will be retired and pop-up-based authentication on those machines will no longer be required. Staff can find current instructions, configuration details, and ongoing updates in the FAQ: https://harvardwiki.atlassian.net/wiki/x/IgDWPg .