In early 2024, several libraries, educational institutions, and cultural heritage organizations learned that support for Olive Software would be discontinued by June of that year. With just a few months to act, those relying on the platform faced a pressing challenge: how to safeguard their digital newspaper archives and maintain public access.

Two very different institutions—the Nantucket Atheneum and Gettysburg College—chose Veridian to steer them through the crisis. Their journeys highlight how Veridian’s migration framework can reliably support different collections and contexts.

Two collections, two urgent challenges

The Nantucket Atheneum manages a public-facing archive of The Inquirer and Inquirer & Mirror—a rich historical record dating back to 1821, comprising over 10,700 issues and half a million articles. Restoring access to this digital archive required more than a standard migration—it was a recovery effort. By the time Veridian got involved, the original platform had been offline for months. The team undertook a full rebuild of the collection on the Veridian platform using dormant data files.

Gettysburg College, in contrast, had only a few months to transition its student-run newspaper, The Gettysburgian, which has been published continuously since 1897 and includes nearly 3,000 issues and 150,000 articles. The college needed a fast migration with zero downtime to ensure uninterrupted access for students, faculty, and alumni.

Robust migration solutions

While both projects involved data from Olive Software, each required a tailored approach—and that’s where Veridian’s engineering experience made the difference. Our team worked closely with each institution to understand any technical constraints, recovery timelines, and user needs, adapting the migration process accordingly.

Here’s how we supported each collection:

• Format conversion: Olive-formatted files (prXML) were converted to the widely adopted METS/ALTO standard—an open format used by institutions such as the Library of Congress—ensuring long-term preservation, interoperability, and improved searchability.

• Content ingest metadata review: All 10,704 issues of The Inquirer and Inquirer & Mirror, and 2,966 issues of The Gettysburgian were ingested into the Veridian platform. Metadata was thoroughly reviewed and refined to support accurate search and navigation.

• Custom front-end interface: Each archive’s interface was designed to reflect the institution’s branding and user needs—whether students, faculty, alumni, historians, or casual browsers. Navigation and search were tailored for intuitive, engaging discovery.

• Quality assurance: A detailed QA process ensured accuracy, functionality, and accessibility before relaunch. This step was especially important for Nantucket Atheneum, where quickly restoring user confidence after months offline was a top priority.

The new Gettysburg College archive launched in June 2024, followed by the Nantucket Atheneum archive in December 2024. Behind both launches was a dedicated team of Veridian engineers and specialists, drawing on years of experience in digital preservation, metadata management, and user-focused design.

Veridian continues to host and maintain both collections, providing secure infrastructure, ongoing updates, and responsive support to ensure their long-term sustainability.

Ready to make the move?

If your current software is no longer meeting your needs—or if long-term support is coming to an end—now is the time to take action. Veridian’s experienced team can tailor a solution to help you recover, rebuild, or enhance access to your digital collections. From format conversion and custom interfaces to sustainable hosting, we’ll work closely with you to deliver the experience your users need—now and into the future.

Contact us to explore a migration path tailored to your archive, audience, and long-term goals.