Dear ArchivesSpace members, You may have already seen across your professional networks this morning that LYRASIS and Duraspace have announced an Intent to Merge. More information is in the press release below and in the FAQ linked from it. After a period of further investigation by the governing boards of the two organizations, the merger vote is expected to happen later this winter.
While there are still a number of details to be worked out, I think the potential to have the community supported programs of LYRASIS, including ArchivesSpace, and the projects of Duraspace, including DSpace and Fedora, under one organizational umbrella is very exciting and potentially opens up a number of avenues for collaboration for our community and others. Also, please know that there are no changes imminent for ArchivesSpace itself. We’ll continue to be the strong community we’ve all built that’s guided first and foremost by your needs and interests. I hope this helps place this news in context. Though we likely won’t have all the answers at this time, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Christine Christine Di Bella ArchivesSpace Program Manager christine.dibe...@lyrasis.org<mailto:christine.dibe...@lyrasis.org> 800.999.8558 x2905 678-235-2905 cdibella13 (Skype) [ASpaceOrgHomeMedium] [https://mlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/df76fc97001/ffab4da9-b360-4a2d-83f9-345b25dd09fb.jpg]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fihgdj5ab.0.0.64z577bab.0&id=preview&r=3&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lyrasis.org> [Divider Small] PRESS RELEASE Contact: Meg Blum Associate Director of Marketing & Communications 800.999.8558, ext. 2951 meg.b...@lyrasis.org<mailto:meg.b...@lyrasis.org?subject=LYRASIS%20Press%20Release%20Inquiry> LYRASIS and DuraSpace Announce Intent to Merge Atlanta, GA - January 24, 2019 - LYRASIS and DuraSpace announce their intent to merge, forming a robust new home for Community-Supported Programs and Services. LYRASIS, an innovative full-service technology and services nonprofit, and DuraSpace, which specializes in open source technologies, plan to join their world-class 501(c)(3) nonprofit teams in 2019. LYRASIS is a recognized leader in building and delivering solutions to academic and public libraries, museums, and archives. DuraSpace is a best of class team providing leadership and innovation for open technologies used by academic, scientific, cultural, technology and research communities. The combined organization will serve over 1,200 members and 3,500 organizational users across the globe. With a vision of leading community focused innovation, the increased scale and sustainability of a combined organization will provide better value and benefits to members of LYRASIS and DuraSpace. A new division of LYRASIS, the DuraSpace Community Supported Programs Division, will be formed to accelerate the pace of development for a combined 8 global open source technology communities, including DSpace, Fedora, VIVO, DuraCloud, ArchivesSpace, CollectionSpace, SimplyE public, and SimplyE academic. DuraSpace hosted services, DuraCloud, DSpaceDirect, and ArchivesDirect, will also transition to LYRASIS. In addition, a thought leadership division will be created that will combine the rich and diverse memberships of both organizations to collaboratively design and develop next generation solutions that include migration, integration, analytics, and hosting. Robert Miller, LYRASIS CEO says "The DuraSpace contribution and commitment to openness as it applies to academic communities has always stood out to me. They have built a phenomenal team, attracted a blue ribbon board, and earned the support and trust of their prestigious members. We are honored to join together with DuraSpace. Our collective memberships will benefit from increased economies of scale and having a bigger seat at the table as we work together to design and build better end-to-end solutions. We are eager to add DuraSpace's voice to ours." Erin Tripp, DuraSpace's Executive Director explains that "While DuraSpace is in its strongest financial position ever, the synergies of joining our two organizations will allow us to leverage a larger organization and member base to amplify our voice. Our missions and memberships are already converging. Taking this next step to merge our organizations will provide access to staff and investment dollars to accelerate the pace of global, community-supported open source software development. Together, we can steward viable alternatives to proprietary products." Following a brief period to complete due diligence, the Boards of the two non-profit organizations will hold a merger vote. If affirmed, the merger will proceed at a pace to ensure minimal disruption to members and customers. In the proposed merger between DuraSpace and LYRASIS, LYRASIS will remain the parent organization and legal entity. The DuraSpace brand, stewardship of DSpace, Fedora, and VIVO, and fiscal sponsorship supports will transition to the new DuraSpace Community Supported Programs Division of LYRASIS. DuraSpace hosted services (DuraCloud, DSpaceDirect, and ArchivesDirect) will also transition to LYRASIS. For more information, please see the Frequently Asked Questions<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fihgdj5ab.0.0.64z577bab.0&id=preview&r=3&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lyrasis.org%2FLeadership%2FPages%2FLYRASIS%2BDuraSpace-FAQ.aspx> documentation. About LYRASIS LYRASIS<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fihgdj5ab.0.0.64z577bab.0&id=preview&r=3&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lyrasis.org>, a nonprofit membership organization of more than 1,000 libraries, museums, and archives supports enduring access to our shared academic, scientific and cultural heritage through leadership in open technologies, content services, digital solutions and collaboration with archives, libraries, museums and knowledge communities worldwide. STAY CONNECTED [Like us on Facebook]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fihgdj5ab.0.0.64z577bab.0&id=preview&r=3&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FLyrasis%2F148102075244> [Follow us on Twitter] <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fihgdj5ab.0.0.64z577bab.0&id=preview&r=3&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Flyrasis> [http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/PM_B2BC_BottomShadow.png]
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