Community Call Wrap-up: Development & Exciting Roadmaps Ahead!
What an insightful PHAIDRA Community Call we had on September 3rd! Great to connect with everyone and see just how the PHAIDRA and Fedora worlds are developing.
Here is a look at the highlights from the meeting, focusing on development updates and future plans:
1. PHAIDRA Community Growth Update (16:05–16:10)
Raman Ganguly, our project lead, brought us up to speed on the growing interest in PHAIDRA. The community is expanding, which is fantastic news!
- We heard about increasing interest, especially following presentations in Japan in May.
- Due to this high user interest, the demo installation needs strategic attention. We are considering ways to enhance the demo, possibly placing it behind a login for a safer testing environment.
- Interest is also coming from state archives in Austria (Lower Austria), confirming that the PHAIDRA community is growing strong.
2. Dev Showcase: New Utilities Streamline Workflows (16:10–16:25)
Rastislav Hudák (Rasta) provided an excellent overview of several tools that the PHAIDRA team has been intensively developing.
Tool for Uploading Digital Books (Book UI)
This specialised UI was created for uploading digital books to PHAIDRA.
- It works by reading a shared folder structure containing pages (as pictures) and a PDF folder.
- The UI allows users to manage the book’s structure and provide essential metadata, including the ability to reuse large metadata templates for projects.
- Crucially, this tool manages the upload progress on the backend, meaning users can shut down the application and the upload will continue.
- It is particularly useful for large materials like old manuscripts that require individual page identifiers and zooming capabilities, and it supports the IIIF manifest.
Bulk-Upload Progress
This feature is implemented directly in the PHAIDRA interface.
- The process involves uploading a CSV file containing metadata and file paths.
- A mapping interface allows users to link CSV columns to specific PHAIDRA metadata fields.
- The upload process is based on local storage, meaning you can close your browser and resume later (though files must be provided again).
Alma Catalogue Upload
This utility simplifies uploads by allowing users to provide an AC number (from the Austrian consortium) to fetch metadata directly from the Alma catalogue. Users then supply additional PHAIDRA metadata and the file, eliminating the need to re-enter all metadata manually.
Bulk Downloader
Addressing the challenge of downloading many objects at once, this tool allows users to upload a CSV generated from PHAIDRA search results. The downloader then creates a server-side job to download the objects into a designated folder.
3. Fedora Roadmap: Fedora 7.x (16:25–16:40)
Dan Field provided key updates on the upcoming major release, Fedora 7.x:
Major Maintenance Complete
The extensive dependency upgrade project is largely complete. This included updating over 40 dependent libraries, notably jumping from Java 11 up to supporting Java 21, and the namespace switch from Javax to Jakarta. Code coverage for testing reached an impressive 83.2%.
The Best News: No Migration Required!
For those already running Fedora 6, there is no migration required when moving to version 7. Users can simply replace the war file or Docker container, point it at the existing OCFL file system and database, and everything should continue to work.
What’s New in 7.x
While the upgrade was internally complex, users will benefit from several improvements:
- Resolving outstanding issues around transactions and performance through added database indexes and rewritten SQL queries.
- Adding a confirmation step for the delete process in Fedora’s native user interface for security.
- A functional feature adding a bi-directional link between parent and child objects for easier tree navigation.
- Removal of the reliance on an ancient version of jQuery from the user interface.
Timeline
We are entering the community testing phase! An Alpha release is expected at the end of October, followed by a Public Beta in the new year. The final 7.0 release is still anticipated very early in 2026 (January).
4. Upcoming Community Events (16:40–16:55)
We closed with previews of two highly anticipated community gatherings:
Fedora Camp Preview
Arran Griffith gave an overview of the Fedora Camp coming up at the University of Vienna from September 10th to 12th.
- The program is live, and the event will be fully in person.
- The camp includes three sets of workshops (Introductory and Integrations), a social evening, and strong attendance with 26 registered participants.
PHAIDRAcon 2025 Sneak Peek
The Università degli Studi di Padova Team provided a wonderful preview of the annual PHAIDRAcon:
- The event consists of a partner meeting on October 30th and the conference day on October 31st.
- The theme is: “Connecting scholar and citizen: the emerging social and cultural role of repository,” focusing on the institutional mission of connecting academia and the wider public.
- The conference venue is absolutely stunning: the historical Botanical Garden of Padua (Orto Botanico di Padova). It holds the distinction of being the most ancient botanical garden still operating in the same location since its founding in the 16th century.
Thank you again to all the presenters and participants for joining this valuable session! Keep an eye on the community platform for news, and we look forward to seeing many of you at PHAIDRAcon!