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Are you asking the ultimate question? Tips and Tricks: Library deflection Labs: Intelligence for the network WorldCat Selection: It's so cool Research: RLG Programs: The next chapter 
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Looking forward to 20072006 has been an extraordinary year for the OCLC cooperative, and 2007 looks equally promising. This past year, we continued to enhance our core services in cataloging, resource sharing and reference with new tools and functionality. We launched new services and entered into important strategic alliances. Moreover, WorldCat grew faster than ever. In 2006, we launched:
We combined operations with RLG and established the RLG Programs division within OCLC Programs and Research. We acquired DiMeMa, the organization that developed and supports CONTENTdm software, which is distributed by OCLC and used by more than 300 institutions to manage their digital collections. We integrated the staff of Sisis Informationssysteme Gmb into OCLC PICA Germany and the staff of Fretwell-Downing Informatics into OCLC PICA UK. We acquired the assets of Openly Informatics, whose linking software and database of e-resources metadata accelerated the launch of the eSerials Holdings service. OCLC Research released prototypes for the DeweyBrowser and audience assessment. The PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata, developed by a working group convened by OCLC and RLG, won awards from the British Library and the Society of American Archivists. We received two additional grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in October: $2 million to enhance the usability of the WebJunction site; and $1.2 million for the marketing team to research the potential of creating a national advocacy program to support public libraries. The Gates Foundation is an important partner for public libraries and OCLC as we seek to provide improved services to users. In 2006, WorldCat grew at a truly extraordinary rate—about 15 million records and 100 million location listings—for four reasons. First, we have significantly improved our batchloading capabilities with our new technological platform, going from processing some 500,000 records a day to about 2 million. Second, an increasing number of international organizations have committed to load their national union catalogs or other large files into WorldCat. In 2006, WorldCat was enriched with records from the Dutch Central Catalogue, the National Union Catalog of Poland, the Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Science Database (LILACS), and the German National Bibliography from the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Third, the subscription pricing model implemented this year has eliminated transaction charges, thereby promoting increased use of online cataloging. And fourth, our new technological platform supports group catalogs, FRBR, Unicode and Web exposure of library resources, all of which encourage contribution to WorldCat. Clearly, we have added value to the OCLC cooperative in the past year. Looking ahead, we have an ambitious agenda for 2007, including:
2006 was also a year for reflection, due to the passing of our founder, Fred Kilgour. With the Kilgour family in attendance, we celebrated his life and achievements on October 31, and we will do so again at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle on January 20. Clearly, as can be seen from our accomplishments this year and our plans for 2007, Fred’s vision thrives. As we begin 2007, I would like to thank OCLC’s 1,200 employees in 26 locations around the world for their hard work this past year. I would also like to thank the thousands of information professionals in participating institutions around the world for their continued strong support of the OCLC cooperative. At a time when a few commercial enterprises are dominating the information landscape, it is more important than ever that we in the OCLC cooperative continue to pursue our public purposes.
Jay Jordan |
