Kelsey,

If you’re looking for a web-based app where you can capture metadata, store files, and find and retrieve them again, Drupal seems totally workable. But I think the issue that might concern me most about using Drupal for a document repository is that it’s relatively fluid. In my experience document repositories last a good decade or more and migrating them is a pain, and not undertaken lightly. Drupal evolves relatively quickly, and persistence isn’t one of it’s focal points. (This is why Fedora is Islandora’s special sauce, from a Drupal perspective.)

If you are interested in Hydra-in-a-Box, there will be some (doubtless smashing) presentations and maybe even a demo at Open Repositories<https://www.conftool.com/or2016/index.php?page=browseSessions&search=hydra+in+a+box> next month. There is much work left to do, but it’s beginning to take shape.

In addition to the videos Mark cited, we’re sending regular updates to the Hydra lists; you might find [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> or [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> worth joining. (Cary—you might also like to join if you’d like to keep current. We have a good set of discussions and information exchange going on with many in the Islandora community.)

Best,

- Tom





On May 5, 2016, at 5:08 PM, Mark A. Matienzo <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

Hi Cary,

Hydra-in-a-Box has already started development as of the last week of
March. To that end, we've released demo videos on a weekly basis at the end
of each of our sprints, which we've posted to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDs5eqwVjfb7dIA6KWffdUlSASYMtZQcL

Best,

Mark A. Matienzo <[log in to unmask]>
Project Manager, Hydra-in-a-Box
Director of Technology, Digital Public Library of America

On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 7:15 PM, Cary Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

To be clear, Hydra-in-a-box is in the planning stage at this point, and
has not AFAIK, begun development. While planning to offer a much friendlier
install than earlier incarnations of Hydra, is still a Fedora-based
solution, and won’t come with a Fedora-expert-in-the-box. It will address
metadata management issues, but exactly how that will happen is not yet
defined.

The good news is that both Islandora, the tool I work with, and Hydra will
be moving to Fedora 4, and that will make them both easier to use in many
respects. In fact, they should become interoperable.

Thanks,

Cary




On May 5, 2016, at 2:38 PM, Kerchner, Daniel <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

Although you might not have the level of technical expertise required to
support Fedora-based applications in their current incarnations, you
might
want to keep an eye on progress on the Hydra-In-A-Box project.
Hydra-In-A-Box is meant to provide the benefits of Hydra but would
actually
be easy to install (i.e. not requiring a software developer on staff)
and/or can be used as a hosted solution.  I think a major driver is to
provide a solution that is just as much an option for "small, scrappy
institutions" :)

http://hydrainabox.projecthydra.org/

- Dan







*Dan KerchnerSenior Software Developer, Scholarly Technology GroupThe
George Washington University LibrariesGelman Library2130 H Street,
NWWashington, DC [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>*


On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 5:15 PM, Kelsey Williamson <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi code4lib,
I was hoping to get some input on this. My small, scrappy institution is
considering using drupal as a repository, primarily via the Biblio
module.

Obviously this is not ideal, but for reasons I won't get into, our tech
environment won't support ePrints or dspace, and hosted services are
not an
option either. We do not really have the level of technical expertise
required to support any fedora-based applications, and cannot hire any
additional support. There's a chance existing staff could stretch to get
there, but it would not be a pretty process.

With all that said, do any red flags come to mind? I looked through both
code4lib and drupal4lib listserv archives and poked around google, but
didn't find much evidence of anyone else using drupal in this way. Seems
suspicious. While my gut tells me it's a bad idea (metadata! standards!
preservation!), I'm having trouble articulating this to my group in a
way
that sticks, because using Biblio would be easy. I would appreciate
hearing
any other thoughts or opinions on this.

Thanks!
Kelsey