Open source library systems
Whilst there are a number of open source library systems available internationally, from a UK higher education perspective the most significant library management systems (LMS/ILS) are Koha and FOLIO.
Koha
Although Koha has been around since 1999/2000, it did not figure in the higher education library landscape in the UK or US until a decade later. This was largely because ‘it lacked basic requirements (such as support for MARC records and record transfer through Z39.50), and it had only minimal capabilities for acquisitions, serials management, and other areas of functionality’. These gaps were filled and, in the UK, Staffordshire University was the first to implement it in 2011.
Koha was a web-based system from the start, which gave it a competitive edge over some other ILSs. Nevertheless, in functional terms, Koha is a conventional library system with a focus on the management of print materials. Electronic resource management capabilities are generally supported by integration with the separate open-source CORAL system. In terms of discovery, it does not support a central index (of typically ejournal content) so, where that is a requirement, libraries use it in conjunction with a proprietary discovery service such as EDS or Summon.
FOLIO
The alpha version of the FOLIO (‘Future of Libraries Is Open’) library system was released in January 2018. It claims to move ‘beyond the traditional library management system to a new paradigm, where apps are built on an open platform’. It is framed as a fundamentally new type of library platform, with ‘open source software, modular components, and a microservices-based technical infrastructure’. It can be considered the first open source library services platform (LSP). The Open Library Foundation, an independent not-for-profit organisation, hosts the project and the software company Index Data developed the initial platform. The initiative received, and continues to receive, ‘significant financial contributions’ from for-profit EBSCO.
FOLIO followed the demise of the earlier Kuali OLE (Open Library Environment) project that was active from 2007 to 2016. The Kuali OLE software was only implemented in three institutions: University of Chicago, Lehigh University, and SOAS Library of the University of London. The Open Library Environment organisation, which managed the Kuali OLE project, has shifted its efforts from building its own software to supporting the FOLIO project.
PTFS Europe supplies hosted implementations of Koha and Folio in the UK. EBSCO also offer a hosted FOLIO solution to libraries.