PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Open
Library Foundation has named three new members to its Board. The
Foundation Leadership represents institutions, library vendors and
services providers from around the globe. The new Board Members are
Agnese Galeffi, from the Library System of Sapienza University in
Rome, Italy; Nancy Kirkpatrick, the Executive Director and
CEO of OhioNet; and Liu (Keven) Wei,
the Deputy Director of Shanghai Library and Institute of Scientific
and Technological Information of Shanghai.
Agnese Galeffi is responsible for the local hub of Italy's National Library Service's catalogue.
In addition to her work for the Sapienza University Library System,
Agnese teaches Descriptive and Subject Cataloguing at the Vatican
School of Library Science. She holds a PhD in Library Science. She
says she is proud to work for what the Foundation stands for. "It
is an organization that supports innovation in libraries and has
principles such as collaboration and openness at its core."
Nancy Kirkpatrick has more than
ten years of experience working with libraries and is a former
academic Library Director. Along with being the Executive Director
and CEO of OhioNet she is involved in the American Library
Association's Spectrum Advisory Board and its Diversity Research
Grants Committee. Nancy has a background in non-profit law and
advocacy and holds a Juris Doctorate and an MLIS. Kirkpatrick
brings a wealth of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) experience
with her and expects to leverage that as part of the Open Library
Foundation Board. "I believe this community can help move the DEI
conversation from words to action by demonstrating how to literally
build inclusive systems, and that potential is exciting. I hope to
contribute to the open source discussion, and perhaps provide a new
perspective."
Liu (Keven) Wei is in charge of
information technology at Shanghai Library and Institute of
Scientific and Technological Information of Shanghai. He is an adjunct professor of Fudan
University, East China Normal University and Shanghai University. Keven is also Vice
Chairman of the Shanghai Library Association and a member of the
Governing Board of Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). He says
the FOLIO project is a good example of why he is excited to become
a member of the Open Library Foundation Board. "FOLIO is an open
platform led by the library industry that will enable libraries to
take complete control of their data, make the most use of it, own
their platform completely, all at a low cost. This platform will
allow everyone to participate in developing and making continuous
progress."
The Open Library Foundation is a community of open source
projects. Tom Cramer, Associate
University Librarian and Director of Digital Library Systems and
Services at Stanford University, is the
President of the Open Library Foundation Board. He says the
Foundation casts a wide net when looking for new Board Members who
can bring their expertise to the Open Library Foundation. "We are
fortunate to have three new members of our Board that bring such
strength and diversity of experience to the Open Library
Foundation. The OLF is a global non-profit, and their voices and
expertise will help us advance open source software for libraries
across the world."
The new board members were voted in to replace outgoing former
Board President and Dean of Libraries at Texas A&M David
Carlson; Dr. Deborah Jakubs, the
Rita DiGallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost
for Library Affairs at Duke University;
and Dr. Yunhai Tong, the Deputy
Director of CALIS (China Academic Library & Information System)
as well as the Deputy Library Director of Peking University.
More information about the Open Library Foundation is available
at: https://www.openlibraryfoundation.org
About the Open Library Foundation
The Open Library Foundation was created in 2016 as an unbiased,
independent not-for-profit organization to ensure the availability,
accessibility and sustainability of open source and open access
projects for and by libraries. Software developed by communities
hosted by the Foundation is freely available under common open
source licenses for personal, institutional or commercial use. The
software is open and free in order to sustain an open collaboration
of interested parties. The Foundation provides infrastructure by
which the library community at large can organize, contribute to,
and benefit from our projects — ensuring availability and a "safe
haven" for member communities' output that is separated from the
needs and goals of any single contributor, user or affiliated
party. Find out more at http://www.openlibraryfoundation.org.
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy, Media Relations,
Open Library Foundation
mediainquiries@openlibraryfoundation.org
978 223-0438
SOURCE Open Library Foundation