About Us

Who We Are

The OpenRS Coalition is an open source project comprised of consortia and libraries who are working together to build a consortial resource sharing solution. The project was founded because there is currently no solution in the market that fully addresses resource sharing for heterogenous consortia.

What Differentiates Us

OpenRS is reinventing resource sharing in ways that finally meet the needs of different types of consortia. Multi-type consortia consisting of a blend of academic, public, school, and special libraries have a wide range of resource sharing needs. OpenRS recognizes that resource sharing methods operate along a spectrum of scale and mediation, and is built to accommodate all of them integrating directly into ILSs.  

As an open source software, OpenRS is able to use the newest development methods and tools in order to keep the software modern and current.  It is built using containerization styles making it ideal both for local hosting and for hosted service-providers, enabling easy stand-up of new instances.  

The OpenRS Coalition welcomes and celebrates the differences in types of libraries and types of library consortia, working to build those different needs into a robust system that provides options in configuration, rather than a monolithic software stack.

Features

  • open source icon

    Open source

  • layers symbol

    Modern system/platform

  • unlock symbol

    Not tied to a vendor

  • merge symbol

    Integrates directly into ILS rather than requiring a separate user interface

  • arrows pointing outward

    Scaled for moving entire consortia forward in the near-term

Charter

The OpenRS Coalition’s charter outlines objectives and principles for both the Coalition and the software’s development direction. These objectives and principles include rewarding action, lightweight bureaucracy, consortial-orientation, and a user-centric approach.

Learn More

Governance
Structure

The OpenRS Coalition’s governance is modeled on the best practices of other open source communities. The model uses a concentric circle framework which utilizes a core team as its central leadership.

Learn More

Founding Council

  • Adam Murray

    Marmot Library Network

  • Donna Bacon

    MOBIUS

  • George Machovec

    Colorado Alliance

  • Ian Ibbotson

    Knowledge Integration

  • Lucy Harrison

    GALILEO

  • Mark Allcock

    EBSCO Information Services

  • Scott Garrison

    Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS)