LTS Newsletter: February 2026

Library Technology Services, Harvard Library

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

HOLLIS for Archival Discovery User-Facing Upgrade Complete

HOLLIS for Archival Discovery (HAD) migrated to the next-generation ArcLight platform on January 20, 2026, delivering a comprehensive overhaul of Harvard’s primary archival and special collections discovery system. The migration was performed without any outage or disruption in access or service to HAD functionality or requesting, and HAD service owners Alex Duryee and Jennifer Fauxsmith held open office hours shortly after for staff with questions about the new platform. HAD now features an upgraded user experience, embedded digital images, and enhanced search capabilities; more details are available on the Using ArcLight page. Documentation is also available via the HAD Help Guide.

HOLLIS for Archival Discovery Interface for Staff Migrated to Lyrasis

Harvard Library’s instance of ArchivesSpace, the software powering the staff-facing portion of HOLLIS for Archival Discovery (HAD), has migrated to Lyrasis hosting and been upgraded to version 4.1.1. Lyrasis will provide server infrastructure, manage upgrades, and handle large-scale system issues. Apart from a set of Harvard-specific plugins, the LTS Discovery portfolio team will no longer maintain the application. The system will function as before: the address for staff (https://arstaff.lib.harvard.edu) and the login process will not change, though users should re-download any bulk import templates. New features in ArchivesSpace 4.1 include a bulk update tool that lets users edit archival objects via spreadsheet and the ability to duplicate resource records without components. Additional improvements include code updates and minor styling changes. LTS will continue to provide front-line support via LTS LibAnswers and escalate issues to Lyrasis as needed, while non-support questions should go to the Service Manager, Alex Duryee.

Retention Coding Project

In 2021, Harvard Library convened a task force to confirm practices for noting retention commitments in metadata and inform a project to mark all current and external retention commitments in a consistent manner across the collection. The completion of this work depended on new Alma functionality requested by Harvard that enabled items to be flagged as “committed to retain” along with a retention reason.

With that functionality in place, LTS has now retroactively marked over 4 million item records as committed to retain. These include items retained as part of ReCAP, HathiTrust, BALLCO, JSTOR Single Copy Project, and other collaborative collecting agreements as noted on the Harvard Library Retention Agreements wiki page (access requires Harvard Key login). With these items now marked as committed to retain, they cannot be withdrawn from Alma; in addition, we are able to report on what items are committed and the reason for retention. If your library has a retention project that is not listed on the wiki, please reach out to LTS. For any questions related to marking items for retention, please refer to the retention coding policies for items and holdings on the LTS wiki.

New Tool: LibOW

Library Open Workflows (LibOW) is a new Alma tool now available to Harvard Library staff that helps automate repetitive, multi-step work, extend Alma services beyond the native interface, and connect Alma with institutional and third-party tools. Ex Libris has embedded the commercial workflow development platform n8n directly in Alma, allowing staff to build complex processes through a drag-and-drop wizard, backed by integrations to the full suite of Alma APIs. LibOW also offers plug-and-play connectors with tools like Google Drive/Docs, Microsoft Excel, AWS, and Jira. These reusable building blocks can be combined into reliable automations. Harvard participated as a development partner with peer institutions from Fall 2024 through Spring 2025 by providing use cases and testing the platform, and subsequently licensed LibOW, making access to existing workflows and new workflow development available to staff. To learn more about current workflows in development and production or how to request access, please visit the LibOW page on the LTS wiki.

Harvard Aviary Service

The Harvard Aviary Service is a centrally managed audio/video curatorial and delivery platform supported by Library Technology Services (LTS) in collaboration with the vendor, AVP. Aviary enables Library units to provide secure, time-limited access to digitized A/V materials and supports common use cases such as controlled digital lending, patron request workflows, and click-through user agreements. Several Harvard Library units already use Aviary to support teaching, research, and access to distinctive collections, and additional units are encouraged to contact LTS (Robin Wendler or Andrew Woods) if interested in taking advantage of this Library-wide approach to A/V delivery.

Alongside the service, Library units using Aviary and LTS have established the Harvard Aviary Practitioners Cohort, an informal community of practice that brings together Aviary users across the Library. The cohort provides a forum for sharing implementation experience, surfacing platform needs, and coordinating feedback to AVP, while also helping to shape shared practices and expectations. Together, the Aviary service and cohort offer a practical, near-term foundation for improved access to A/V collections and a collaborative path toward a future, modernized A/V delivery ecosystem.

Cohort perspectives:

“The Harvard Film Archive adopted Aviary (https://hfa.av.lib.harvard.edu/) in Fall 2025 as our primary platform for providing secure streaming research access to copyrighted material from HFA collections. In our climate of "do less with less," Aviary drastically streamlined patron access workflows and freed up time for our small staff to work on other important initiatives. The cohort has been a great way to learn together how best to use the system and build community among colleagues managing audiovisual collections.” - Amy Sloper, Collections Archivist | Harvard Film Archive

Collections Explorer Videos

To help you get oriented to the Collections Explorer project, we’ve collected a few short videos: a Fall 2025 demo, a Fall 2025 technical overview, and a link to our staff-facing sprint demos with dates and highlights from each sprint:

Collections Explorer Demo (Fall 2025)
Collections Explorer Technical Overview (Fall 2025)
A collection of Collection Explorer sprint demos (2024-2026)

Coming Soon: New Viewer for Digital Objects

LTS is nearly ready to release an updated Viewer experience for digitized images and page-turned objects available via Library systems. The Viewer is based on Mirador, a flexible, open-source IIIF image viewer designed for rich engagement with digitized materials. This new version introduces improvements to existing functionality like accessing restricted materials, and more accessible viewing and searching of digitized full text. Users will additionally be able to open multiple items or pages side by side for comparison, rearrange windows, and switch layouts to support research and teaching. Users will soon begin to see the new Viewer interface embedded in discovery applications such as CURIOSity, HOLLIS Images, and HOLLIS for Archival Discovery. Dedicated communication about this roll-out will be sent very soon.