Dryad is a well-known multidisciplinary repository which houses OA research data. What’s less known is that submissions to Dryad flow directly into (and out of) CDL’s digital preservation platform, Merritt. Because every deposit must also be made available for download, Merritt’s access layer has been re-engineered to provide file and object retrieval directly from the cloud. This is a presentation about how and why we’ve focused on streamlining access – in turn making what would typically be considered a dark archive, a light one by providing building blocks for organizations to easily and securely obtain any digital file or object from the cloud storage providers which Merritt makes use of.