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Philadelphia – Dec 15, 2018 – The Open Library Foundation (OLF) welcomes Project ReShare to its growing portfolio of open source, library management software development communities. The OLF Board of Directors accepted the Community Charter for Project ReShare at its fall meeting.
Leading library, consortia and information organizations have come together to create Project ReShare – a new and open approach to library resource sharing systems. ReShare aims to inject new life into this space by developing an innovative, community-owned resource sharing platform.
“We are very excited about the membership of ReShare in OLF. When the members and leaders of this effort were meeting at WOLFCon to get organized, the energy and vision in the room was palpable. There was a sense among participants that the time for a shared community owned and led effort in resource sharing was overdue. Sharing our resources has always been a bedrock of library services. This new effort will allow us to share not just our resources but our time, talent and expertise into the development of a resource sharing platform for the twenty-first century.” – David Carlson, Dean of University Libraries at Texas A&M University and President of the OLF Board of Directors
ReShare’s open source software will be built on OLF’s innovative services platform with a modular architecture. Its “design-first” approach puts functional ergonomics and productivity as the project’s prime development focus. Organizations using the software can adapt the system to specific local needs and experiment with new service models and integrations. Libraries and consortia will have the option to install and host the platform, or select a preferred vendor for hosting and support. ReShare’s Apache 2.0 software license encourages libraries, developers, and vendors to innovate freely.
The greatest asset of Project ReShare is its robust community. Libraries, consortia, developers, vendors, and open information advocates are collaborating with a shared vision of strengthening the health of libraries’ resource sharing ecosystem. The community’s structure and governance minimize barriers hindering innovation in current solutions, and gives equal voice to all stakeholder groups. The ReShare Community has been initiated by the active contributions of our founding Partners represented in the project’s Steering Committee: Big Ten Academic Association, Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), Index Data, Ivy Plus Libraries, Knowledge Integration, Mozilla Foundation, Open Library Environment (OLE), Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI), and Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN).
About the Open Library Foundation
The Open Library Foundation (OLF) is a not-for-profit organization established to provide software development and collaborative infrastructure for open source project communities working to improve the effectiveness and impact of libraries. The OLF values open collaboration between libraries, library organizations, service providers, and vendors. The Open Library Foundation will ensure that the code is freely available under and Apache v2 license. For more information about the OLF, please visit https://openlibraryfoundation.org.
Media Contact
Michael Winkler – michael.winkler@openlibraryfoundation.org
Or visit https://projectreshare.org
A group of leading library and information organizations has come together to create Project ReShare – a new and open approach to library resource sharing systems. ReShare aims to inject new life into this space by developing a community-owned resource sharing platform.
ReShare’s open source software will be built with a modular architecture focused on user-centric design. Organizations can adapt the system to their specific needs and experiment with new service models. Users will have the option to install the platform locally or select a preferred vendor for hosting and support. ReShare’s Apache 2.0 software license will allow libraries, developers, and vendors to innovate freely. Project ReShare is currently seeking membership in the Open Library Foundation, which will own the project’s intellectual property.
The greatest asset of Project ReShare is its robust community. Libraries, consortia, developers, vendors, and open information advocates are collaborating with a shared vision of strengthening the health of libraries’ resource sharing ecosystem. The community’s structure and governance minimizes barriers hindering innovation in current resource sharing solutions, and gives equal voice to all stakeholder groups.
Project ReShare’s Steering Committee includes representatives from Duke University Libraries, the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), Index Data, Ivy Plus Libraries, Knowledge Integration, the Mozilla Foundation, the National Széchényi Library (Hungary), North Carolina State University Libraries, Northwestern University Libraries, the Open Library Environment, the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI), the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN), the University of Chicago Library, the University of Houston, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Members of the community are contributing leadership, expertise, and resources to the ReShare project. PALCI is providing $100,000 to kickstart UX design and development. Index Data adds several staff to lead project planning and software development. Other partnering organizations are dedicating developer time, infrastructure support, and in-kind contributions. The Steering Committee will soon announce ways for other organizations to contribute toward ReShare’s vision.
To all involved, ReShare represents a unique opportunity to solve today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges. “The only way libraries can address all our patrons’ information needs is through partnerships with each other,” says Jill Morris, Associate Director of PALCI and Project ReShare’s Steering Committee Chair. “This partnership is about re-imagining how we work together. ReShare opens up channels for strategic collaboration among libraries, across consortia, and with vendors and other organizations, which simply didn’t exist before.”
“A community-based, open platform for library resource sharing – and for deep collaboration around collections and discovery – has been the Holy Grail of interlibrary lending for well over a decade,” shares Joe Lucia, Dean of Libraries at Temple University and member of PALCI’s Board of Directors. “ReShare carries the promise of becoming that system, and of engaging the library community broadly, both in technical innovation and in opening up the wealth of our holdings to students and scholars in powerful ways.”
That enthusiasm is shared by Index Data co-founder Sebastian Hammer. “Resource sharing is central to the future of libraries, both in terms of managing access to print, and in new models for digital services. Project ReShare is bringing together a dream team of partners in a mutual commitment to open innovation and collaboration. We are thrilled to be a part of it.”
Work on Project ReShare is underway. The Steering Committee has outlined the functional requirements for ReShare’s software, and defined the community’s expectations and structure. Software development will continue through the next year with plans for implementation and the first round of testing in the fall of 2019.
For more information about Project Reshare, please contact Jill Morris, Project ReShare Steering Committee Chair at info@projectreshare.org.
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