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 Subject : Announcing ArchivesSpace Membership.. 03/15/2013 06:13:53 PM 

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Dear Colleague--

In less than a year, ArchivesSpace, the new online archives management software suite that combines the best of Archivists’ Toolkit and Archon, will be released. As a member of the ArchivesSpace development team, I am writing on behalf of the libraries of NYU, UC San Diego and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to provide you with information about the ArchivesSpace membership model which will be a key component in sustainability of the ArchivesSpace software and community.

ArchivesSpace Membership
The ArchivesSpace membership is part of a new model for open source software. Through Archivists’ Toolkit and Archon, archival management software has become a critical piece of processing, managing, and making information about archival collections available to both staff and users. ArchivesSpace software development has been supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, but there is no Mellon funding for its continued operation. An essential component of our development project has been to design a sustainability and governance model that will keep ArchivesSpace robust and maximally useful, and that will provide ongoing support for its users.

To address the long-term needs of support, development, training, and documentation, we saw the need both for membership and for an “organizational home” for the software. Membership is for individual organizations that will use ArchivesSpace, either locally or through a hosted service. The organizational home, LYRASIS, will assume the responsibilities from us, the project partners, to keep the software up-to-date, relevant, and meeting the needs of the archives community in concert with community governance. We have devised a governance structure consisting of a Governance Board, Users Advisory Council, and Technical Advisory Council; these groups will be formed and populated by ArchivesSpace members. LYRASIS will hire two dedicated, full-time staff members, an ArchivesSpace Program Manager and an ArchivesSpace Developer, to manage the ongoing support, documentation, maintenance and development needs on behalf of the members. Membership dues revenue will make this long-term commitment possible.

So What Does ArchivesSpace Membership Mean?
In this new model for open source software sustainability, your membership means ongoing funds to continue ArchivesSpace development so it can better meet community needs. The current project will produce version 1.0 in late July, but ongoing fixes and upgrades will be desired. Some organizations may want to contribute code to be integrated into later releases either in an ongoing or feature-based way. Still others will want an opportunity to see and hear about the latest developments of ArchivesSpace or contribute new feature requests or documentation enhancements. Most organizations will want access to the most recent documentation and support (listserv, direct email, and phone). These are all possible through membership.

ArchivesSpace members receive the following benefits:
- Access to dedicated ArchivesSpace support (member listserv, direct email, and phone);
- Access to the extensive documentation (all levels of help/training documentation);
- The ability to serve on the Governance Board, Users Advisory Council, and the Technical Advisory Council and set directions for ArchivesSpace
- Access to migration tools and any help documentation associated with them;
- The ability to commit code and ideas towards future development;
- and many more.

Organizations who choose not to join ArchivesSpace can continue to download new releases of the software from its GitHub repository but will not enjoy the full benefits of ongoing support or community engagement supported by membership fees.

Membership Options and Important Dates:
ArchivesSpace has two membership models in place. This email and the ArchivesSpace Brochure (available at http://goo.gl/iFmnE) provide information about both options.

1.) Charter Membership: Available effective TODAY. Any organization who will use ArchivesSpace to help manage their archives may become a Charter Member. Charter Members may sign up through MAY 31, 2013.
2.) Regular Membership: Available September 1, 2013 after the software is released. Complete information is available in the brochure (available at http://goo.gl/iFmnE) or on the ArchivesSpace website, http://www.archivesspace.org

Because the Charter Membership option is available for a short time, here is more extensive information about Charter Membership.

Charter Member Benefits
• Opportunity to participate in and shape the initial Board, User Advisory Council, and Technical Advisory Council, including exclusive eligibility for election or appointment to these initial governance bodies (general members will not be eligible for election to the governing groups before 2014).
• An extended, initial membership period lasting through December 31, 2014 (more than a year of paid membership).
• Participation in the development of the initial ArchivesSpace user, technical, and services roadmaps, including beta releases of the product.
• Access to early releases of migration tools to move data from Archivists’ Toolkit and Archon to ArchivesSpace.
• Preferred access to news, updates, etc.
• Recognition through the placement of your institution name, logo, and link on the ArchivesSpace website.
• Use of the “ArchivesSpace Charter Member” icon.
Join ArchivesSpace now as a Charter Member and take advantage of this limited-time opportunity, ending May 31, 2013.

Charter Membership
Charter Membership is a one-time membership option, only available through May 31, 2013. The Charter Membership fee includes the first year of general membership and is based on the type and size of your institution:
• $ 500 – Very Small organizations (includes $300 first-year membership)
• $ 2,000 – Small organizations (includes $1,000 first-year membership)
• $ 6,000 – Medium-sized organizations (includes $3,000 first-year membership)
• $10,000 – Large organizations (includes $5,000 first-year membership)
• $15,000 – Very Large organizations (includes $7,500 first-year membership)

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to be a part of the initial launch of ArchivesSpace as a Charter Member and lead the way in online archives management software. To join us as a Charter Member, please contact the ArchivesSpace Program Office at [email protected].

Institutions interested in supporting ArchivesSpace in consortial or hosted settings should also please contact the ArchivesSpace Program Office at [email protected].

For more information about ArchivesSpace general membership, please see the brochure (available at http://goo.gl/iFmnE) or visit ArchivesSpace.org.

On behalf of the ArchivesSpace Team,

Mark A. Matienzo | [email protected]
Technical Architect, ArchivesSpace
http://archivesspace.org/
Last Edited On: 03/15/2013 06:14:21 PM By
 
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