Background and Purpose: McMaster University invites qualified bidders to submit responses for the installation and configuration of an Institutional Digital Archives based on the Islandora platform in accordance with the terms of this request for proposals.
The Digital Archive will house and display the University’s distinctive, legacy, and digital heritage collections which includes digitized content and accompanying metadata representing rare books, maps, photographs, audio and video recordings, and more.
Scope/Objective: This project will require the migration and merger of two existing Islandora installations: the main, open, public-facing instance and a separate limited-access instance used to store copyrighted or otherwise restricted content that cannot be made openly available. We anticipate that, post-migration, all content will reside in a single instance, with access to restricted content controlled through the application of user roles that determine what content a user is permitted to access. The migration will include transfer of all files from both Fedora installations, mapping of all metadata to new fields, metadata cleanup, as well as the retention and reimplementation of the current persistent identifier system.
The Digital Archive must be installed and hosted locally in the Library Data Centre. The University is not considering cloud hosted options. Vendors will be expected to work cooperatively with University staff to support and guide the project while respecting any security guidelines that are issued.
Vendors will be expected to provide development of additional features beyond the stock Islandora installation, including single sign-on via Entra ID authentication, restricted access to select content, and a user interface adherent to McMaster University brand guidelines.
The selected vendor will also be asked to provide staff training, documentation and ongoing support after project completion and hand-off.
Vendors will be considered qualified by demonstrating significant experience with the Islandora platform and will be asked to provide client references for review by an evaluation committee.
