Welcome to the FOLIO Discussion Site

This site is a web- and email-based forum for documenting questions and decisions for the FOLIO Project. Participants can post their thoughts and track categories and topics of interest with email alerts.

Getting Started

1. Log in! - This site will keep track of what you have read and what is new - whether you read from your phone, your computer, or your tablet - but it can only do that if you log in.
2. Search - In the upper-right corner, search to see if a discussion has already covered the topic you want to know about.
3. Introduce yourself - Just below this welcome message is a Reply button. Let us know a little bit about yourself and your interest in the FOLIO project.

What is FOLIO?

FOLIO (Future Of Libraries Is Open) is a community collaboration to develop an open source Library Services Platform (LSP) designed for innovation. The library community is joining in partnership to innovate, develop a new open source library services platform, and transform library technology. The FOLIO LSP is designed with extensibility at its core, supporting traditional resource management functionality, but focused on the ability to deliver new services. For more details, see the main FOLIO website.

Forum Guidelines

Remember that these forums are public, so be polite! We have guidelines for the managing and policing the forum to help maintain a supportive and pleasant environment where everyone feels able to contribute.

Which Category should I post my topic in?

This site is divided up into the broad categories below. (You’ll see them repeated on the home page.) Be sure to search the forum archives before creating a new topic, as someone might have already started a topic based on what you are looking for.

• Community - Learn about the FOLIO work, connect participants with common goals, and make FOLIO an accessible and enjoyable project for everyone involved.
• Software - Discussion of the technical aspects of the FOLIO Library Services Platform.
• Local - Topics of regional interest.
• Site Feedback - Discussion about this site, its organization, how it works, and how we can improve it.
• Test Posts - Experimenting with this site? Here is the place to do it.

Not sure which category your topic fits into? Leave it Uncategorized and we will put it in the right place for you!

About this discussion forum

This forum uses Discourse, a brand-new conversation engine brought to us by the Discourse Team. It is still in very active development, with new features and improvements coming all the time. We love it so far and are excited to see where it ends up. If you’re interested in discussing how Discourse could be improved, please create a topic under the Site Feedback category.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

After lurking in the background for a little while, I thought it was time to make my desire to participate in the FOLIO effort a bit more formal with an introduction.

I’m Kathryn Harnish, a library software product manager and principal in Leap Forward Library Consulting. I’ve spent a long time working in the market – for Endeavor/Ex Libris, OCLC, and, most recently, ProQuest – where I’ve led conceptualization and planning for “next-gen” ILSes and, at OCLC, the WorldShare Network (aka “The Platform”). While I stepped away from the library space for about 18 months to help my husband start a new business, I found that I deeply missed the work of helping libraries to use technology to be more visible and viable.

Which is why I’m here. I’m resuming some of the community engagement that I had done in late 2015 (with my blog) and grappling once again with the tension between supporting our current management practices and workflows while leaping forward to take on the new business cases that our constituents increasingly expect of us. And where I can contribute here, I will…but be forewarned, I like to question and challenge and, sometimes, push the comfort level of the industry!

If you’d like to learn a little more about me, check out my Web site bio.

I am incredibly excited about the opportunity inherent in the FOLIO initiative – to me, it represents the chance to develop a true library services platform, an ecosystem rather than a product; a solution that connects libraries to the larger world.

I look forward to some great conversations…and to being a part of this journey with you!

All the best,
Kathryn Harnish

Welcome, Kathryn! Glad to are joining the journey.

Hi all,
I’m Chiara Storti, digital librarian at the National Central Library of Florence (Italy).
We are going to adopt Folio, in autumn 2019, for library users and circulation services management, with the support of @Cult and EBSCO.

We feel “pioneers” to adopt Folio now, so we’ll very grateful for all community help!

Thank you
Chiara