PHILADELPHIA — August 13, 2021 — 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 www.openlibraryfoundation.org.
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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy, Media Relations, Open Library Foundation
mediainquiries@openlibraryfoundation.org
978 223-0438