Web-scale library management services available July 1 to early adopters

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 25 June 2010—OCLC is moving its Web-scale library management services from pilot phase to production with the release of acquisitions and circulation components to a limited number of early adopters.

Beginning July 1, OCLC will work with libraries that are interested and prepared to implement Web-based services for acquisitions and circulation. This will be followed by successive updates for subscription and license management, and cooperative intelligence—analysis and recommendations based on statistics and workflow evaluation among participating libraries. The cloud computing environment and agile development methodology will facilitate incremental updates while minimizing impact to library operations.

Faced with scarce resources, disparate systems and local maintenance issues during a time when demand for library services has never been higher, OCLC members have made it clear that new, innovative responses are needed to meet these challenges. For the past eight months, OCLC has worked with an Advisory Council and six libraries and library groups as pilots for Web-scale management services. These groups have provided advice to OCLC on an overall direction, offered new ideas that were not in the original development plan, and validated strategic positioning for the service.

"We see OCLC Web-scale Management Services as a way to bring improvements and efficiencies to our staff functions in the areas of acquisition, processing and circulation support," said Mark Roosa, Dean of Libraries at Pepperdine University and a Web-scale pilot participant. "Moreover, a Web-based approach makes sense to us; we want to manage information, not hardware."

OCLC Web-scale Management Services offer a next-generation choice for traditional, back-office operations. Moving these functions to the Web alongside cataloging and discovery activities allows libraries to lower the total cost of ownership for management services, automate critical operations, reduce support costs and free resources for high-priority services. It will also allow libraries and industry partners to develop unique and innovative workflow solutions that can then be shared across the profession.

"OCLC is extending our well established metadata management, resource sharing and discovery services to include the back-office management components of acquisitions and circulation which will allow libraries to extend their use of WorldCat for full library management functions and improved workflow,” said Andrew Pace, Executive Director, OCLC Networked Library Services. “This is a natural extension of OCLC’s mission to help libraries share costs and extend the power of cooperation."

OCLC will host a session during the ALA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., for those interested in learning more about OCLC’s work to move library management system functionality to Web scale. OCLC will present "Web-scale or Bust: Harnessing Cooperative Innovation for Management Services" on Saturday, June 26, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Four Points by Sheraton, Franklin Rooms A-C.  Mr. Pace, pilot participants and Advisory Council members will discuss how OCLC Web-scale management services can positively impact a library’s budget and workflow.

A similar program will be offered as an online event on Wednesday, July 21, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, 11 a.m. Pacific Time. The online registration form for this event can be found at www.oclc.org/info/ala/webscalejuly21.htm.

More information about OCLC Web-scale management services can be found at www.oclc.org/webscale.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 171 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

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