Kurbits AIS
Archival Information System for archives, special collections, and museums.
What is Kurbits AIS?
Kurbits is an archival information system built for institutions that need to describe, organise, locate, and track their holdings — whether archival records, library special collections, or museum objects.
It follows established standards (ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF), EAD 2002, EAC-CPF, OAI-PMH) while remaining practical for smaller institutions without dedicated IT departments.
Try out a Demo!
Features
| Area | Capabilities |
|---|---|
| Description | Hierarchical archival description (fonds → series → file → item), ISAD(G)-aligned fields, custom metadata templates per level |
| Agents | Authority records for persons, organisations, families — with Wikidata, VIAF and ORCID lookup |
| Location tracking | Physical location hierarchy, check-in / check-out, movement history, "Checked out" virtual location |
| Classifications | Controlled vocabulary schemes with version history |
| Acquisitions | Submission agreements, deliveries with configurable checklists, accessions linked to resources |
| Flags | Workflow flags for metadata, conservation, rights, digitisation — assignable to staff |
| Files | Attachment upload with automatic technical metadata extraction (checksums, PRONOM, EXIF, AV, thumbnails) |
| Import / export | EAD 2002 import/export, OAI-PMH harvest, EAC-CPF agent import, Visual Arkiv 7 XML import |
| Search | Full-text search across resources and agents with filters |
| Multi-tenancy | Multiple institutions on one instance, users can belong to several |
License & Usage
This project is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 (BSL), with a future transition to the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPLv3).
TL;DR
- ✅ Free for public sector organizations, non-profits, and individuals
- ✅ Free for companies using it internally
- ❌ Not allowed to sell, host, or provide as a commercial service without permission
- 💬 Commercial use requires a separate agreement (often a donation to charity)
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Permitted Use (Free)
You may use this software free of charge if you are:
- A government or public sector organization
- A non-profit or non-commercial organization
- A private individual using it for personal purposes
- A company using the software internally (not offering it to customers)
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Restricted Use (Requires Permission)
You must contact the licensor if you intend to:
- Offer the software (or a modified version) as a service (SaaS)
- Sell or redistribute the software
- Build a commercial product around it
- Provide paid consulting where this software is a core part of the delivered solution
Examples:
- Hosting this as a service for clients
- Packaging it into a commercial offering
- Selling installations or solutions where this system is the main component
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Commercial Licensing
If your use falls under restricted use:
- You are welcome to contact me for a commercial license
- In many cases, this may simply involve a reasonable donation to a charity
- The goal is not to restrict usage, but to prevent unreciprocated commercial exploitation
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Change to Open Source
On 2031-05-31, this project will automatically be relicensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPLv3).
At that point:
- The software becomes fully open source
- Anyone can use it commercially
- Any modifications or hosted versions must also be open source
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Why this license?
This project is developed to support GLAMS.
The license is designed to:
- Ensure free access for public-good use
- Prevent proprietary reselling without contribution
- Encourage improvements to be shared with the community
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Questions?
If you are unsure whether your use is permitted, or want to discuss a commercial use:
I'm generally friendly and open to reasonable use.