A Sustainable Commit(ment): Balancing IIIF Viewer Enhancements with Streamlining Measures at the Swiss Federal Archives
Abstract
Since 2018, the Swiss Federal Archives (SFA) has been improving user accessibility and experience by using IIIF across multiple platforms. A key initiative is the implementation of the "companion window" feature on the Minutes of the Federal Council platform, which allows text transcriptions to be viewed side-by-side using a customised Mirador 3 plug-in. Building on this, we integrated the core IIIF APIs and the Content Search API into our main portal in 2023.In October 2024, we further enhanced our IIIF infrastructure by enabling search capabilities across our IIIF Collections. This enhancement significantly improves navigation and discovery of archival materials. With the release of Mirador 4, we are exploring how our IIIF infrastructure should be adapted and are designing consolidation efforts to improve sustainability.This presentation will explore the challenges and successes of enhancing IIIF viewers. We will share our experiences, discuss our considerations for future developments, and lessons learned that can benefit the IIIF community. Our aim is to contribute to the dialogue on balancing continuous improvement with sustainability to ensure that GLAM institutions can effectively preserve and provide access to digital resources. Minutes of the Federal Council: https://www.chgov.bar.admin.ch/ mirador-ocr-helper: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@4eyes/mirador-ocr-helper Online Access to the Federal Archives: https://www.recherche.bar.admin.ch/