by Lizzy Baus
Quick Summary
As the library world continues to evolve and become more web-friendly, there are new ventures and developments all the time. One of these emerging projects is FOLIO, which stands for Future Of Libraries Is Open. FOLIO is an open source, community based project that aims to develop a fully-functional Library Service Provider (LSP) with a modular structure that will enable organizations to use one, some, or all of the pieces depending on their needs. As FOLIO proceeds, the Open Library Environment hosts a series of FOLIOForums to update the wider community on progress and ask for feedback and input.
As the library world continues to evolve and become more web-friendly, there are new ventures and developments all the time. One of these emerging projects is FOLIO, which stands for Future Of Libraries Is Open. FOLIO is an open source, community based project that aims to develop a fully-functional Library Service Provider (LSP) with a modular structure that will enable organizations to use one, some, or all of the pieces depending on their needs. As FOLIO proceeds, the Open Library Environment hosts a series of FOLIOForums to update the wider community on progress and ask for feedback and input.
Two major questions have guided (and will continue to guide) FOLIO’s development: 1. What are libraries doing now? and 2. How can we do it better?
On April 12, a FOLIOForum revealed the first steps in the Resource Management Special Interest Group (SIG)’s work. Kristin Martin and Kristen Wilson shared some of the SIG’s discussions about the work to be done and demonstrated a few prototypes and mockups.
The Resource Management SIG was formed with the idea to combine print and electronic functions, including acquisitions, licensing, access and authentication, evaluation, reporting, and metadata management. In addition to defining core functions, the SIG was charged with determining the governing relationships – between resources, modules, vendors, and so on.
After discussing some of the guiding principles about their work, the speakers demonstrated several of the prototypes that have been developed; they can all be accessed at ux.folio.org. The main purpose of this site is to mimic the look and feel of the fully fleshed-out versions of these modules, as well as give an idea of how various tasks might be accomplished.
Because the Resource Management SIG is far from finished with their work, the main content of this FOLIOForum was conceptual. The speakers encouraged all community members to play with the prototypes, monitor and join the conversations at discuss.folio.org, and watch for future FOLIOForums.
More information and a recording of the webinar can be accessed here.
