Digital Repository Managers and Administrators often find themselves wrestling with sluggish software, wrangling data, managing server updates and navigating customizations that complicate daily work. This ongoing maintenance takes too much time away from the things that are important – your mission, collections and patrons. We recently had a conversation with the DSpaceDirect Hosting team — Melissa Anez, Manager of Hosting Services Outreach, Jen Cwiok, Systems Administrator, and Drew Heles, Engineering Lead — about the challenges institutions face when the maintenance burden becomes too heavy, and how the team can help institutions ready for a new solution.
The Lyrasis DSpaceDirect Hosting team understands the reality because they have lived it. Some team members have direct experience not only in providing hosting services but also as former clients who migrated to the Lyrasis hosting solution. This shared background gives a unique perspective. Rather than external vendors, the team are community members who understand the difference between being a software provider and being a partner in your library’s mission.
Recognizing the Weight of Maintenance
The team shared that in recent conversations with institutions, a clear trend has emerged — the burden of maintenance. Many libraries have managed their repositories in-house for years, but maintenance has finally outpaced their capacity to keep up. Staffing changes and shifting resources can make it difficult to keep software current, often creating a gap between what campus-wide IT can provide and the library-specific expertise you actually need.
The anxiety is real. The team frequently speaks with institutions who know they need to update but are caught in a situation where updating seems impossible. Drew shared this example scenario: "Perhaps someone implemented complex customizations five years ago, and that person has since left the organization. Documentation may be sparse, leaving current staff afraid to touch the system for fear of breaking it. This 'maintenance burden' often results in repositories falling several versions behind, missing out on critical security improvements and new features."
Recently, the team has also noted a rising concern regarding AI bots. Institutions are increasingly worried about scrapers impacting performance or harvesting content without permission, adding yet another layer of technical management to an already full plate.
Expertise That Alleviates the Burden
Melissa Anez shared, "The Lyrasis DSpaceDirect Hosting approach is designed to relieve these pressures. Because Lyrasis is a mission-aligned nonprofit partner and a Registered Service Provider, we reinvest in the community and the software itself. Our team possesses deep expertise in both the technical and institutional aspects of repository management, allowing us to handle extreme upgrade scenarios." The team mentioned a recent success story, where they successfully upgraded an institution from version 1 directly to version 8. DSpaceDirect, Lyrasis' hosting service, uses the latest version of DSpace and is a DSpace Registered Service Provider.
The team also takes a proactive stance on customizations, helping institutions assess what they actually need versus what they have accumulated over time. The current configuration will be evaluated to decide which customizations should be rolled back, dropped or updated to newer, better-supported modifications. The goal of the DSpaceDirect Hosting team is to find the balance between customization and maintainability, ensuring that only changes that are sustainable for the long term are implemented.
A Smooth Path Forward
The team shared that they often hear that institutions wait longer than they should to seek help because migration feels overwhelming. To help reduce the anxiety of migration, the team’s process is designed to minimize risk and disruption. They begin by migrating your collection and data to a non-production instance. This allows the team to troubleshoot, refine and test on a separate system while your existing repository remains fully operational.
This testing phase is critical. It allows your staff to evaluate the new system without any downtime for your patrons. The actual switch-over occurs during off-hours to ensure service continuity. Throughout this process, the team mitigates change-based impacts and provides documentation and video tutorials to ensure your team is comfortable and confident.
A Community of Support
Whether you are currently struggling with a sluggish system or just beginning to see the warning signs of maintenance burden, you need time to focus on your contributors and collection, not server maintenance. By choosing a hosted solution, you gain a partner committed to your mission.
Learn more about our DSpaceDirect hosting program, and please reach out if you’d like to request a quote.