Archival Collections at Lyrasis
Welcome to the Lyrasis Arclight Demo Site
ArcLight is an open-source discovery and access application designed specifically for archival description and finding aids. It is built on the Blacklight framework (which itself is based on Ruby on Rails and Solr), and is intended to provide a modern, user-friendly interface for exploring archival collections.
What ArcLight Does
ArcLight allows users to:
- Browse and search EAD (Encoded Archival Description) finding aids
- Navigate hierarchical archival structures (collection > series > files > items)
- View rich metadata and digital object links
- Use facets (like subject, date, collection) to narrow search results
- Export citation-friendly data
Technical Overview
Framework: Built with Ruby on Rails using Blacklight
Search: Powered by Solr
Data Source: EAD XML files, indexed via Traject
Indexing Tool: Uses a Ruby gem called traject to transform EAD into Solr documents
UI: Highly customizable interface for end-user browsing/searching of archival collections