Dear Digital Preservation Colleagues,
Late last year, Harvard Libraries announced to the digital preservation community that it will no longer be able to maintain its File Information Tool Set (FITS).
From its About<https://harvard-lts.github.io/fits/about> page:
The File Information Tool Set (FITS) identifies, validates and extracts technical metadata for a wide range of file formats. It acts as a wrapper, invoking and managing the output from several other open source tools. Output from these tools are converted into a common format, compared to one another and consolidated into a single XML output file.
FITS has been a cornerstone of open-source digital preservation for over a decade and is actively integrated with digital asset management platforms Islandora and Samvera.
The acting managers of FITS have convened community meetings over the past few months to work towards finding it a new home. Agendas can be reviewed below:
Agenda, 12/11/25<https://github.com/harvard-lts/fits/wiki/2025.12.11-FITS-Transition-Planning-Meeting>
Agenda, 01/29/26<https://github.com/harvard-lts/fits/wiki/2026.01.29-FITS-Transition-Planning-Meeting-cont.>
The community is now preparing to submit a request for support to the Open Preservation Foundation.
Help Needed:
If you are currently using FITS at your institution (including customers of Islandora and Samvera), have used FITS in the past, or were planning to implement it in the near future, please consider adding your name to the current draft letter<https://docs.google.com/document/d/14GI-rPVbG_bN9qpd0xHtaatAb9arL1oRolibR-JqvEU/edit?usp=sharing> of support by February 13, 2026.
Additionally, if you are able to offer developer support for the continued maintenance of this tool, please reach out to Andrew Woods at andrew_woods_at_harvard.edu<mailto:andrew_woods_at_harvard.edu>.
Sincerely,
Aurora Charlow
[Ohio University Logo]
Aurora Charlow, she/they
DIGITAL ARCHIVIST
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
MAHN CENTER FOR ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, PRESERVATION & DIGITAL INITIATIVES
EMAIL
charlowa_at_ohio.edu<mailto:%20charlowa_at_ohio.edu>
PHONE
740.593.0055
Received on Tue Feb 03 2026 - 12:34:36 EST