FOLIO (library services platform)


FOLIO is an open-source, cloud-enabled software platform for library management systems developed by the international FOLIO community. Development began in 2015, led by the software company Index Data and funded by EBSCO Information Services. A runnable software platform was made publicly available in September 2016, and an early version including functional library modules was announced for 2018.
WWW folio.org𝕏 FOLIO_LSPGitHub folio-org

Objectives

The software is designed to be easily extensible, capable of being operated either locally or as a multi-tenant cloud system, and to meet the requirements of academic libraries in the areas of metadata management, acquisitions, electronic resource management, circulation, user management, system administration, and integration.
The project aims to provide an open-source alternative to proprietary library systems such as Alma by Ex Libris and WorldShare Management Services by OCLC.

History

Development of FOLIO began in 2015, led by Index Data.
  • In 2016, the Open Library Foundation was established to provide governance, manage intellectual property, and coordinate community development of the platform.
  • By 2018, FOLIO reached an early stage of maturity with the release of its first functional library management modules, enabling pilot implementations in academic library environments.
  • In 2019, Chalmers University Library became one of the first academic libraries to adopt FOLIO in a production environment.
During the 2020s, FOLIO saw increasing international adoption, with implementations and migration projects announced by library consortia and academic institutions in Europe and North America.

Code and architecture

The software code is managed on GitHub, and an introduction for prospective software developers is available on dev.folio.org.
Technologies used include Vert.x and JSON for inter-module communication, React and Redux for the user interface, and RAML for the persistence interface.
The software platform—referred to as the "platform"—consists of a user interface framework, a message bus called "Okapi" for inter-process communication between modules, and a system administration layer including a database. Functional modules such as circulation and acquisitions are built on top of this platform.

Adoption and use

FOLIO supports more than 25 languages. Example of usage.

Africa

Asia

Australia

Europe

North and South America

Open Library Foundation

The Open Library Foundation was established in 2016 to manage organization, finances, and intellectual property rights. It is based in the United States and operates as a non-profit organization. In 2016, the community of the Kuali Open Library Environment project joined the foundation, leaving the Kuali Foundation to continue pursuing its goals using the new FOLIO platform.