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Victoria Johnson [photo]

Victoria L. Johnson

The Board of Trustees, Members Council and management and staff of OCLC wish to express their deep sorrow for the untimely death of their friend and colleague, Victoria L. Johnson. Until recently, Vickey was Director of Library Services, San Mateo County Library System, California. She was elected to the OCLC Board of Trustees in 2004 by the OCLC Members Council, a 66-delegate body of librarians from 16 countries, and served as trustee until her death. She served as a delegate to the Members Council from 2000 to 2004.

"Her wisdom and counsel will be much missed by the OCLC Board and the library world, but most especially by those of us who were privileged to work with her," said Larry Alford, Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian, Temple University, and Chair, OCLC Board of Trustees. "She was an able trustee, a highly professional librarian, and a kind and generous person."

"Vickey Johnson was not only a leader, an accomplished librarian and a wise administrator, she was also a warm and wise person who loved learning," said Jay Jordan, President and CEO, OCLC. "She dedicated much of her professional life to encouraging children to read and grow into lifelong library users and learners. She was a true friend of libraries and their users everywhere. We at OCLC will miss her."

nextspace newsletter 8 cover

NextSpace: The OCLC Newsletter

Changing on purpose

After four years of intense study and research, Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant discovered six breakthrough practices that largely determine the impact a nonprofit organization can deliver. Can libraries apply these practices both individually and collectively to make a difference in the digital age?

President’s Report  |  Complete table of contents  |  Back issues

Neal Petersen

Advocacy

World-class sailing started in a library

Neal Petersen had a dream that started in a library. See the latest OCLC Advocacy ads.

Members Council

Membership and Members Council

OCLC Members Council will look at governance possibilities

OCLC Members Council will meet May18-20 in Dublin, Ohio, to elect the OCLC Members Council Executive Committee and representatives to the OCLC Board of Trustees. Session discussions will include governance opportunities, the future of OCLC services, and an OCLC study report on library advocacy.

Membership reports

Sharing, Privacy and Trust in the Age of the Networked Community

Now available! This OCLC membership report summarizes the findings of an international study on online social spaces, including social networking attitudes and habits of both end users and librarians. Social networking was also discussed at the OCLC Symposium “Who’s Watching YOUR Space?” at ALA Midwinter 2007.

Talk

Join the conversation

Find venues where the voices of the OCLC community and the larger library community are freely expressed. Sign up for an RSS feed or a podcast, or see what new discussions lists are available.

Career development

2008 IFLA/OCLC Fellows announced

At the recent IFLA Congress in South Africa, OCLC President and CEO Jay Jordan named the Fellows who will participate in the 2008 IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellowship Program. Learn who they are and what they will do during their fellowship.

Education and Professional Development

Training and seminars

There are so many opportunities to learn and grow. The key is knowing what's offered when and where. Use this section to find the topic, time and place you need, in your region or beyond. Then simply reserve a spot on the roster. Limited travel budget? New online options help you learn from the comfort of your own PC.

OCLC Presentation Center

Access to OCLC presentation archives

Like you, OCLC staff are drawn to gatherings where ideas about information services and the world of libraries are freely shared. Across our Web site, you'll find archives of presentations given by OCLC staff, researchers and guests at various events. These slides or supporting materials provide a snapshot of those presentations and are provided for reference purposes.

Standards activities

Redesigning the PURL service

OCLC and Zepheira, LLC have announced plans to redesign OCLC’s Persistent URL(PURL) service. Learn more about PURLs and the redesign project.

OCLC WorldMap: Visualizing information about collections and libraries worldwide

The OCLC WorldMap is a prototype system that provides an interactive tool for selecting and displaying international library holdings represented in WorldCat, as well as publishing, library, cultural heritage and population data.

Read the entire story

WorldCat Facebook application now available

The new WorldCat Facebook application provides access to WorldCat searches and user-created lists from personalized pages within a Facebook account.

Read the entire story

Waterland Public Library, the Netherlands, fields 3 millionth question in QuestionPoint

At 5:26 p.m. local time on November 29th, a user of Bibliotheek Waterland, the public library in and around Purmerend, the Netherlands, logged on to the Al@din reference service and asked the question: “What is the distribution of market share for automobiles in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.K.?”

Read the entire story

View all recent news briefs.