The Hermit Library, a Blake’s 7 fanfiction archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).
In this post:
- A bit of background explanation
- What this means for creators who have work on the Hermit Library
- And what to do if you still have questions
Background explanation
The Hermit Library is a Blake’s 7 fanfiction and fan art archive hosted at the Hermit.org site. Founded and run by printzine publisher and author Judith Proctor in 2000, it was among the earliest multi-author archives in the fandom, and was for some years the largest online B7 archive. It includes many stories and novels which first appeared in zines, particularly those published or agented by Judith.
During an outage of Hermit.org in 2014, a fan by the name of Aralias contacted Judith to find out whether the site was gone forever or could be resurrected. Although the site did return, Aralias was anxious to ensure the fics hosted on Hermit would never be lost again, and asked if they could be imported onto AO3, where they would be safe (and searchable by pairing at last!). Judith agreed. She was also keen to move the rest of the Hermit.org content (including zine reviews, the Sevenclopia and Gareth Thomas’s complete career history) onto either Fanlore or another archive and then close the site.
Open Doors will be working with Judith Proctor and Aralias to import the Hermit Library into a separate, searchable collection with its own identity. Eventually the links going to the old site will re-direct to the collection on AO3 so the works can continue to be found with their old URLs. We will begin importing works from the Hermit Library to the AO3 collection in July.
What does this mean for creators who have work on the Hermit Library?
This is the part where we ask for your help!
1. If you already have an AO3 account and have posted your Hermit Library works there, please contact the moderators (hermitlibrary.archivist [at] gmail.com) with your Hermit Library pseud(s) and e-mail address(es), so that we won’t import your works. For instructions on mass-adding works to the new collection on the AO3, Hermit Library, please see the Open Doors website.
2. If you don’t already have an AO3 account but would like one to import your works yourself, please contact the moderators (hermitlibrary.archivist [at] gmail.com) with your Hermit Library pseud(s), and the preferred e-mail address to send the AO3 invite to. For instructions on importing works and adding them to the Hermit Library collection, please see the Open Doors website.
3. If you don’t already have an AO3 account but would like one, as well as assistance importing your works, please contact the moderators (hermitlibrary.archivist [at] gmail.com) with your Hermit Library pseud(s), and the preferred e-mail address to send the AO3 invite to. Once your account is set up, let us know your AO3 name, and we can transfer your works to you once imported.
4. If you would NOT like your works moved, please contact the moderators (hermitlibrary.archivist [at] gmail.com) with your Hermit Library pseud(s) and e-mail address(es) so that we will not add them.
If you would not mind your works being preserved but do not want your name attached to them any longer, please let us know that too–we can orphan your works instead of leaving them behind to be deleted.
All works archived on a creator’s behalf will be attributed with the creator’s name in the summary of the work. As we import works, we will e-mail notifications to the address associated with the work. When all works have been accounted for, the Open Doors committee will set up the URL redirects, and and the original Library will be permanently closed.
All imported works will be set to be viewable only by logged-in AO3 users. Once you claim your works, you can make them publicly-viewable if you choose. After 30 days, all unclaimed imported works will be made visible to all visitors.
If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your Hermit Library account, please contact the moderators (hermitlibrary.archivist [at] gmail.com) for assistance in verifying your identity. (If you’ve posted the works elsewhere, or have an easy way to verify that they’re yours, please include this!)
If you still have questions…
If you have further questions, visit the Open Doors FAQ page, contact the moderators (hermitlibrary.archivist [at] gmail.com) or the Open Doors committee, or leave a comment on this post and we’ll respond as soon as we can.
We’d also love it if fans could help us preserve the story of the Hermit Library and Hermit.org on Fanlore. If you’re new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.
We’re excited to be able to help preserve the Hermit Library!
– The Open Doors team