Vision

The next generation of the global cooperative

In today’s Web environment, scale matters. Through massive concentrations of shared data, applications and connections, communities can leverage the Web infrastructure to create new services, generate new operating efficiencies and develop new relevance to users.

This emerging concept of Web scale—where systems are built and services delivered in the Internet ‘cloud’—is strongly aligned with OCLC’s historic mission. For more than 40 years, OCLC and its members have been building a library cooperative and managing a computer network that creates economies of scale, enabling more and more libraries to reduce costs and share resources.

Now OCLC is introducing next-generation services using 21st century Web technology that will greatly amplify the power of library cooperation. By connecting more libraries and more records, there will be more network effects and more value for the cooperative. Some services will interconnect in the cloud through machine-to-machine interfaces. Others will reside where they are technically most appropriate, at the local, group or global levels.

The vision is to use Web scale to deliver library resources, services and expertise at the point of need, within user workflows and in a manner that users want and understand. The Web-scale model will encourage users to participate in a network and community of libraries by enabling them to reuse information and socialize around information. It also will create a powerful, unified presence for libraries on the Web and give users a local, group and global reach.