28 October 2020
Michigan State University will be transitioning to the FOLIO Library Services Platform (LSP) and plans to fully implement FOLIO in 2021. Michigan State will be utilizing EBSCO Information Services for EBSCO FOLIO implementation and hosting services and will also leverage EBSCO Discovery Service™ and OpenAthens.
The Michigan State University Library and its partners are now moving to FOLIO to be part of the future of libraries and to take advantage of the latest innovation in library automation. Michigan State University Dean of Libraries Joseph A. Salem, Jr. says the new contract with EBSCO to migrate to FOLIO reflects a commitment to access, organization and growth. “Our collections continue to grow, and as they grow, we need a library service platform that can manage various kinds of collections and workflows.” Michigan State is dedicated to the FOLIO community and is taking steps to contribute to the FOLIO Special Interest Groups and Development teams.
Salem says EBSCO FOLIO Services will 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. It will also serve our 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.”
State Librarian at the Library of Michigan (LM) Randy Riley says that the continuation of the Library of Michigan’s long-standing partnership with Michigan State University Libraries as they migrate to FOLIO will benefit staff and public users. “Through this collaborative arrangement, LM will gain access to a next generation open source catalog that is versatile, flexible, and highly customizable. The agreement also makes available EBSCO’s user-friendly public interface and their state-of-the-art discovery layer. Everybody wins.”
EBSCO Information Services Manager of FOLIO Consulting Services Anya N. Arnold, MLIS, says migrating fully to FOLIO will be a group effort across multiple teams at Michigan State University, FOLIO and EBSCO. “The EBSCO FOLIO Services migration team has facilitated several implementations and created processes to facilitate the collaboration between the library staff and EBSCO. EBSCO and Michigan State will be working closely together throughout the implementation process.”
Michigan State has also signed on to use EDS as the library’s discovery interface, and OpenAthens for single sign-on authentication. EDS will be used as the primary interface for most of the libraries’ print and electronic resources. OpenAthens will allow for single sign-on — a simple, standards-based system that makes it easier for users to access digital resources via the library website.