Modularity: doing it all isn’t a good thing
In the world of digital repositories, we’ve all seen two extremes: the monolithic “one-size-fits-all” platform that’s impossible to maintain, and the bespoke custom build that breaks the moment your needs change. The Portal Project at the University of Texas Libraries takes a different approach — one grounded in modularity.
Portal is an ecosystem built from interchangeable, standards-based components rather than a single monolithic system. Its Next.js frontend provides a flexible, performant user interface; Strapi serves as a headless CMS for content and translations; a Django REST API manages logic and roles; Fedora 6 and OCFL ensure long-term preservation; and Elasticsearch powers scalable discovery across millions of records. Each piece can evolve or be replaced without disrupting the whole — a principle that’s reshaping how we build sustainable digital library infrastructure.
This talk explores how embracing modularity lets us design systems that adapt rather than age. You’ll learn how the Portal architecture separates concerns, encourages reusability across projects (like AILLA and AHPN), and aligns with broader library values: openness, interoperability, and longevity.
Whether you’re maintaining a legacy Islandora or building something new, this session will help you think about your stack not as a platform, but as a set of beautifully interchangeable pieces.