Your membership. Your voice.
OCLC members own, sustain and shape the future of the world's largest library cooperative.
Libraries, museums and archives around the world belong to the cooperative to share resources, reduce costs and to advance the future of the profession. Today, more than 25,900 OCLC member libraries, archives and museums around the world realize the benefits of countless network effects resulting from collective innovation.
Any library, museum or archive that participates in cooperative services with OCLC is considered a member. The benefits of membership are not linked to financial contribution, but are equally available to all institutions that are part of the cooperative.
Our advocacy, research and standards initiatives advance our cooperative services
Our cooperative approach to promoting libraries, librarians and librarianship involves a variety of activities. OCLC Research works with the community to collaboratively identify problems and opportunities, prototype and test solutions, and share findings through publications, presentations and professional interactions.
Our advocacy work helps libraries enhance their outreach efforts and our standards activities help improve how members can leverage data. All of these initiatives inform and advance our cooperative services.
How does my institution become an OCLC member?
Membership is open to libraries, museums and archives of all types and sizes.
- Definition of membership Learn more about membership in the OCLC cooperative.
- Membership benefits Member cooperation enables OCLC to maintain close ties with the library community and to build services targeted solely at strengthening library services.
- Membership criteria Cooperative services and activities that qualify your institution for OCLC membership.
- Contributing to OCLC governance One of the most vital aspects of the cooperative is the opportunity for librarians to participate in its governance.
- Reports and papers OCLC initiatives include in-depth studies and topical surveys that let you understand issues and trends that affect librarianship.
Want to talk to us about membership?
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