Version 8.3 (Released 03/2026)

Release 8.3 does not contain any breaking changes.

Staff Interface

New Fields

The following new fields have been added based on requests from the community of CollectionSpace users:

• To Consultation Procedure: Add Consultation Outcome Field

• To Object Record > Anthro > Add Material/technique description, Controlled Place Concept

• To Acquisition Procedure: Acquisition Description, Parties Involved Block

• To Deaccession Procedure: Parties Involved Block
  
  

Changes to Functionality

Version 8.3 includes a series of enhancements to improve the search and retrieval of object records. These enhancements include:

• New alternate search result views. Users can toggle between the traditional list view, an image-centric grid view, and a full detail view.

• Utilizes a new backend search API that allows additional details to display in the grid and full detail view, making it easier to differentiate between records and quickly view details such as field collection and production information.

• Streamlined advanced search input form. This form removes default fields and refines several qualifiers, including allowing the use of contains/does not contain for authority-controlled fields.

• Support for presigned URLs for upload of Media Handling files from staff UI and when using the CSV Importer tool.

Accessibility Improvements

Version 8.3 includes changes to improve the accessibility of CollectionSpace as identified in the VPAT issued with the 8.2 release. Improvements include:

• Improve contrast for pagination

• Display alt text with images in the image gallery and thumbnail images

• Update Footer to include link to User Manual

• Rename My CollectionSpace to Recent Activity

In addition to these changes, the CollectionSpace development team also introduced accessibility testing to coincide with development. This will assist with identifying issues before they are released.

Bug fixes

Version 8.3 includes fixes to a variety of small bugs in reports and with inconsistent labels in the UI. The most notable change for users is the relabeling of MyCollectionSpace to Recent Activity (this change overlaps with Accessibility Improvements). This functionality has long been mislabeled and confusing. The functionality continues to operate the same and will provide a list of all records modified or added by anyone in your system in the past 7 days. The long-range roadmap for CollectionSpace does include exploring personalization options.

Browser

The following changes were made to the browser and are available with the 3.5.0 release of the browser:

• Fix to display for published exhibitions, including new documentation in the User Manual for this functionality

• Add the Material/technique description field to the browser display for Anthro profile installations

• Add the contentPlace field to the browser display

• A new configuration departmentLabels is available, allowing custom labelling of departments. For more information, see: https://github.com/collectionspace/cspace-public-browser.js/blob/main/docs/configuration/README.md#departmentlabels

• A new configuration mediaSnapshotSort is available, allowing custom sorting of images in details view. For more information, see: https://github.com/collectionspace/cspace-public-browser.js/blob/main/docs/configuration/README.md#mediasnapshotsort

Services Updates

To support the search changes, the 8.3 release is bundled with a new backend API. This API powers the display of object-record metadata in the table, grid, and full detail views. Version 10.2 of the UI uses this new backend API. Because of this, UI v 10.2 requires version 8.3 or higher of CollectionSpace.