The University of Illinois Archives and the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music are pleased to announce that version 2.1 of Archon has been released under the University of Illinois/NCSA Open-Source License. It is available for download at http://www.archon.org. Archon is a web-based tool for managing and providing access to archival descriptive information and associated digital objects. The software automatically produces a searchable and browsable website, EAD files, and MARC records. Version 2.1 includes several new features: -Accessions manager to record information about unprocessed materials -Improved public interface and page designs -Google-optimized headers on each page -Compliance with accessibility guidelines (meets Section 508 requirements) -Improved import scripts (added .csv file importer) -Easier local customization via themes and templates system -Complete user, administrator, and developer documentation In the version 2.11 release (planned for early summer), a new method for publishing information regarding unprocessed materials will be added. Version 2.11 will also improve usability in Archon's digital library by adding thumbnail views and additional search options. To help ensure the long-term sustainability of Archon, we ask that you take a few moments to read the following information and provide valuable feedback and comments. To date the University of Illinois has fully self-funded the development of this software. We believe it fills a niche in the community, and we will continue to support its development since we depend on it. Following the release of several versions of the software, the encouragement and feedback received have been instrumental in creating a product that we believe is stable, easy to implement, and useful. It is built on the most commonly-available web technologies (MySQL and PHP), and its public release forced us to work out many issues and problems in a timely fashion. To date the software has been downloaded over 900 times and installed or upgraded over 600 times. In addition, approximately 30 production installations are either active or planned. As more repositories use Archon, we are seeking additional means to improve the underlying software and support the growing user community. Releasing Archon under a very permissive open source license is one critical element. We hope that other developers will contribute code to the project by developing new modules, contributing themes, or adding other features. It is important that these activities take place collaboratively. In this respect, we note that Archon was recently nominated by our University for a Mellon Collaborative Technology Award. We believe that the award of this grant would help us support the Archon community in ways that cannot be achieved with internal resources. We request that you view the nomination and submit comments at: http://matc.mellon.org/nominate/university-of-illinois-at-urbana-champaign/archonTM We greatly appreciate any support you are able to provide. Chris Prom Project Co-Director Assistant University Archivist Scott Schwartz Project Co-Director Director, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music -- Christopher J. Prom Assistant University Archivist University of Illinois Archives 19 Library 1408 W. Gregory Dr. Urbana, IL 61801 phone: 217.333.0798 fax: 217.333.2868 e-mail: [log in to unmask] web: http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx