On Wednesday November 29th, FLO members gathered at Massachusetts College of Art and Design to hear about the FOLIO project. FOLIO, which stands for "the Future Of Libraries Is Open", is a new open source library services platform (LSP) under development in collaboration with EBSCO, Open Library Environment (OLE), and a host of other vendors, academic libraries, developers, and librarians.
FLO Executive Director Walter Stine provided members with an overview of the FOLIO project, citing that the current library systems in use by FLO members were developed 15 to 20 years ago and are not currently meeting the needs of libraries in an efficient manner. FOLIO aims to provide a flexible, modular, app-based environment to meet the needs of modern libraries.
FLO's Content & Applications Manager, Tania Fersenheim, has been working with the FOLIO project's Resource Access Special Interest Group as a product owner. Tania discussed FOLIO's unique development process and how FLO's participation in FOLIO's development process can translate to an LSP that will work better for consortia than the products currently on the market. Finally, FLO President and Wentworth's Library Director, Kevin Kidd, discussed the next steps for FLO and how FOLIO may be a potential solution for FLO members in the future.
What truly sets FOLIO apart from other LSPs is the community involvement in the project. Librarians have a chance to provide input on a system in a way that we never have been able to in the past, and FLO is already taking advantage of this opportunity in the hopes that FOLIO's final product can potentially serve our members' needs better than before. We can encourage staff at our member libraries to get involved!
How do I get involved with FOLIO?
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