Board of Trustees

OCLC has been built by the intellectual effort and hard work of thousands of librarians over four decades.

It is a distinct honor to chair the Board of this remarkable collaborative.

—Larry Alford, Board Chair

OCLC was founded in 1967 as an Ohio library cooperative. Today, it provides services to over 25,900 member libraries libraries around the world. The OCLC Board of Trustees represents the interest of these members.

The Board works to align OCLC’s product, research and advocacy strategies with OCLC’s mission: to connect people to knowledge through library cooperation. To ensure that OCLC remains a strong collaborative, the Board encourages a culture of cooperation and vigorous debate.

Trustees listen carefully to members from all types of libraries and from countries around the globe, to better understand issues affecting libraries in today’s changing environment.

The OCLC Board of Trustees meets five times a year. A day of committee meetings is followed by a formal board meeting the next day. Trustees immerse themselves in current library issues, as well as OCLC strategic updates, in preparation for these meetings.

The 2010-2011 OCLC Board of Trustees

Seated, left to right: John Patrick, Kathleen Imhoff, Anthony Ferguson, Brian Schottlaender, and David Roselle

Standing, left to right: Edward Barry, Elisabeth Niggemann, Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson, David Lauer, Jay Jordan, Bernadette Gray-Little, Larry Alford, Sandra Yee, James Neal, and Maggie Farrell

Not pictured: Bruce Newell