No. 1
ISSN: 1559-0011
2006
Contents
The OCLC Newsletter has covered libraries, membership programs
and OCLC research initiatives and product news since 1967. With
this issue, OCLC introduces NextSpace, a new magazine for our
member and information managers.
How legacy brands reinvent themselves, and what libraries can learn from them
It was December 2002 when one of the world’s most beloved
restaurant companies was losing its edge to changing consumer
tastes. In 1999, a cable TV giant with the industry’s most respected
brand suddenly looked outdated. In the early 1990s, the world’s
dominant technology company began to lose luster to a new set of
computing solutions. Three different companies. One common problem: one of their most valuable assets, their brand, was losing relevance in a rapidly changing environment.
IBM 
McDonald’s 
Discovery Channel
Rather than repositioning a brand, Al and Laura Ries,
marketing consultants and authors of two bestsellers on
branding, recommend creating a new one. Why? A brand
can stand for only one idea, and trying to extend it will
weaken it. Here are some of their tips for launching
powerful new brands.
Gregory Maguire, author of the 1995 bestseller, Wicked: The Life
and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is now an award-winning
Broadway musical, credits the public library with engaging
his imagination, fueling a passion for literacy and effectively starting
his writing career.
For more than 30 years, WorldCat—created by OCLC member
libraries in a true spirit of cooperation—has functioned as the most
comprehensive database of library-owned materials. Now, WorldCat
is being transformed into a full-fledged “service platform”: a Web-based
structure that libraries can use to manage their entire
collections across a broadening range of functions.
Departments
Editor’s Letter
Advocacy