Michigan State Libraries Moving to Open Source FOLIO Project

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 11/10/20

Michigan State University Libraries has committed to adopting FOLIO, an open source project that is building a platform for library services. The transition will take place in 2021. The institution will be working with EBSCO Information Services to use the company's hosting services, as well as EBSCO's Discovery Service for search and to serve as an interface to the collections and OpenAthens for single-sign-on authentication.

FOLIO (which stands for "Future of Libraries is Open") is a collaborative effort first introduced in 2016 involving libraries, vendors and developers to develop a set of open source library applications that are hosted by individual vendors. EBSCO's FOLIO library services include implementation, hosting and maintenance and professional services.

Michigan State's dean of libraries, Joseph Salem, Jr., said the adoption of FOLIO would better serve students, faculty and researchers. "Our partnership with EBSCO to move to FOLIO will support our mission to provide expertise, collections and infrastructure for discovery and creation."

In a press release he noted that the migration would also serve the libraries' partnership with the Library of Michigan, "and it will help all who use our collections find the resources they need for the work they do."

As state librarian at the Library of Michigan, Randy Riley, explained, the long-standing collaborative arrangement between the two organizations will enable his library to "gain access to a next-generation open source catalog that is versatile, flexible and highly customizable." It will also provide library patrons with access to a "user-friendly public interface and [EBSCO's] state-of-the-art discovery layer," he added. "Everybody wins."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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