2022 Product Council Election

The FOLIO Product Council guides the functional development of the FOLIO Library Services Platform.  The Product Council (PC) manages the scope of the FOLIO product. PC has the key responsibility of providing the product vision, strategy & roadmap with close collaboration with the Community and Technical Councils. 

Seats on the Product Council are available to Members of the FOLIO community, in accordance with the FOLIO Governance Model. Member is defined as an individual who is an employee or a sponsored contractor of a Member Organization. Individuals will be elected to seats for two year terms. Shorter terms may be required for the initial transition period or to fill seats that become vacant between elections..

The Product Council is will be seeking nominees who have deep experience with one or more of:

  • Strong collaboration skills, able to drive decisions that champion the interests of the community and project
  • Leadership experience
  • Library management systems and library workflows
  • Library system specification and implementation
  • Prioritizing features in an environment of many competing interests
  • Traditional software product management, market analysis, etc.
  • Planning and executing software development projects, product ownership, project management
  • Agile software development methodologies, including Epic, Feature and Story creation 
  • Knowledge of recent library operations and future needs
  • Experience with defining functional requirements and understanding of technical requirements
  • Knowledge of FOLIO features and functionality as it applies to daily operational use
  • Participating in and/or managing open community governance

See also FOLIO Governance Model Election Process and Product Council Election - May/June 2021. The successful candidates from 2021 each have a 1- or 2-year term as follows:

One year terms (July 2021 -- June 2022):

  • Anya Arnold (EBSCO Information Services)
  • Karen Newbery (Duke University)
  • Martina Tumulla (HBZ)
  • Sharon Wiles-Young (Lehigh University)
  • Gang Zhou (Shanghai Library)

Two year terms (July 2021 – June 2023):

  • Jesse Koennecke (Cornell University)
  • Kristin Martin (University of Chicago)
  • Peter Murray (Index Data)
  • Martina Schildt (GBV)
  • Brooks Travis (Missouri State University)
  • Owen Stephens (Knowledge Integration)

There are 5 open seats on the Product Council, for 2-year terms starting July 2022. Product Council members currently serving an initial 1-year term that ends June 2022 may stand for re-election.

Dates

Nominations will be collected from May 9 through May 25, 2022 via the nomination form Now closed

Voting will be open from May 31 through June 17, 2021

Successful candidates will join the council on July 1, 2022

Nominees

THANK YOU to all of the nominees for their interest in helping FOLIO become its best.

The following individuals have been nominated:

NameInstitutionCandidate Statement
Gang ZhouShanghai Library
  • Lead Project Manager of FOLIO at Shanghai Library (SHL)
  • Develop and implement the first FOLIO in China. Played key role in the go-live of FOLIO Circulation (2021/4) at SHL,  implementing Acquisition and ERM modules in SHL.
  • Familiar with China’s library industry. Over 20 years of implementing the ILS (Horizon,Symphony), providing tech support and customization.
  • Organize FOLIO development training and seminars, promote FOLIO community to Chinese libraries and developers from 2020.
Sharon Wiles-YoungLehigh UniversityThe role of the FOLIO Product Council continues to evolve and I remain committed to serve on the Council.  As a member of the Product Council, I had the opportunity to be participate on the roadmap group and currently serve as a liaison to the Support SIG. In the coming year, the Product Council will have to address roadmap development, prioritization, resourcing and other pressures on the project. It is exciting to have more implementing libraries and I think there will be opportunities to realign some parts of the project as we encourage more people to get involved. I would like to continue my service on the Product Council and to assist with upcoming project decisions. 
Karen NewberyDuke University LibrariesAs the Head of the Library Systems and Integration Department at Duke University Libraries, and an implementing partner, I have been involved with the FOLIO  community since 2018. I have participated in multiple SIGs, convened the Implementers Group, and served on the Product Council. I have been a member of the recent Roadmap sub group of the Product Council. Those years of experience with the FOLIO project and community have given me a broad understanding of what the product must become to continue to be a viable alternative to commercial library systems. As an elected member of the Product Council, I will continue to speak up for important features, add-ons, and processes so the FOLIO Library Services Platform is the best it can be.
Alexis ManheimStanford LibrariesI hope to join the PC and contribute to making FOLIO the most flexible and innovative LSP available. My qualifications:
  • AUL for Technical & Access Services at Stanford Libraries; strong background in Acquisitions and champion of linked data integration in FOLIO (Sinolio)
  • Co-chair of Stanford’s FOLIO Steering Group leading implementation across multiple libraries; responsible for high-level decisions and encouraging collaboration across campus units; go-live planned for August 2023
  • Extensive experience designing cross-departmental workflows with broad organizational impact
  • Trusted partner in creating and implementing policies and programs with library peers and vendors to drive practical and creative solutions to present and future needs
Martina Tumullahbz, Cologne
  • working as FOLIO implementation lead at the hbz service center (a non-profit service provider with a long history of supporting libraries, implementation projects and hosting)
  • background: library management systems and library workflow analyst, ERM, circulation and project management
  • providing support for our libraries implementing FOLIO by analyzing and defining workflows, requirements and configurations
  • responsible for hbz prioritization/planning of the roadmap
  • being in the FOLIO project from the beginning
  • Product Council, SIGs Resource Access, Implementers, Consortia and convener of ERM SIG
I would like to help building a sustainable FOLIO system by considering the requirements of the community.
Paul MoellerUniversity of Colorado
  • Lead of the Digitization, Description, and Discovery Services Team at the University of Colorado Boulder
  • CU Boulder has been part of FOLIO Community since 2017
  • Expect to be live on FOLIO in summer 2023
  • FOLIO implementation product owner at CU Boulder
  • Experience with metadata, acquisitions, discovery
  • Attend/work with various SIGs
  • I want to ensure that FOLIO meets the evolving needs of the community and offers a viable alternative to proprietary solutions


Elected Members

The following people have been elected to serve 2-year terms from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2024:

  • Gang Zhou (Shanghai Library)
  • Sharon Wiles-Young (Lehigh University)
  • Karen Newbery (Duke University Libraries)
  • Alexis Manheim (Stanford Libraries)
  • Martina Tumulla (hbz, Cologne)