Hadley, MA, June 16, 2025 — Born-Digital is excited to announce the launch of Aurora, a cloud-hosted solution designed to streamline the management and accessibility of digital collections. Built on the trusted open-source foundations of Islandora and Drupal, Aurora enables cultural heritage institutions to focus on their content, rather than on the technical complexities of hosting, maintenance, and security.
Simplifying Digital Collections Management
Aurora delivers on the core use case of modern digital collections repositories: discovery and access to metadata and digitized content. Aurora provides a user-friendly interface and management tools to simplify the process of managing and sharing digital collections, with features such as customizable metadata ingest, flexible access controls, and responsive design. Institutions can enhance their collections with powerful search, faceted browsing, and full-text indexing, making it easier for users to discover and access digital resources.
Open-Source Flexibility Meets Cloud Efficiency
At the heart of Aurora is the combination of Islandora’s open-source flexibility and the scalability of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Institutions can easily customize their repositories without needing an in-house development team. Aurora also supports key integrations, including OAI-PMH harvesting, Google Analytics, and Single Sign-On solutions (including CAS, OAuth, and LDAP) to ensure seamless connectivity with other services.
Fully Hosted and Secure
Aurora is delivered via fully managed, cloud-hosted services on AWS, including monitoring, automated backups, and no-touch SSL certificates. Born-Digital ensures data security with geographically redundant storage and regular backups. As an AWS Partner, Born-Digital adheres to industry best practices for data protection.
Key Features of Aurora:
Rich Content Support: Manage and display images, documents, audio, video, and more. Derivatives are automatically generated, reducing manual effort.
Responsive Design: Mobile-ready design meets WCAG 2.2 AA compliance, ensuring broad accessibility and usability across all devices.
Powerful Search and Discovery: Intuitive search interfaces, advanced filtering, and faceted browsing enables users to easily find content.
Customizable Access Controls: Manage visibility through role-based permissions, IP restrictions, and embargoes.
Expert Support: Access Born-Digital’s dedicated support team and private Islandora knowledge base to resolve issues quickly.
“We understand the unique needs of cultural heritage institutions, and Aurora is designed to simplify digital collections management while ensuring the highest standards of security and user experience,” said Noah Smith, CEO of Born-Digital. “With Aurora, institutions can focus on preserving and sharing knowledge, while we handle the infrastructure and technical details.”
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