OCLC welcomes 202 Taiwan libraries to OCLC cooperative

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA,  8 March 2007 —Taiwan has added 202 libraries to the OCLC cooperative as full cataloging, Governing Members.

The Taiwan OCLC Governing Members Consortium libraries have agreed to catalog all their newly acquired titles using WorldCat, the world's most comprehensive database of items held in libraries around the globe.  The WorldCat database is used to catalog materials, find materials for interlibrary loan, and can be used to search for library materials on the open Web via the WorldCat.org service.

The Taiwan OCLC Governing Members Consortium comprises all college and university libraries in Taiwan, libraries of several research institutions, government agencies, corporations, significant public libraries, medical and theological libraries.

"We are pleased to form this consortium of key libraries in Taiwan to share and exchange library information with the rest of the world through OCLC," said Dr. Jieh Hsiang, University Librarian and Professor of Computer Science, National Taiwan University, who was elected chair of the consortium.  "We live in a global village, and no one can be self sufficient with their doors closed, particularly in the Web age."

Governing Members of OCLC may elect delegates to OCLC Members Council, which supports OCLC's mission by serving as the key discussion forum and communications link between member libraries, regional networks and other partners, and OCLC management.

"OCLC is honored to have these libraries in Taiwan actively participate in global library resource sharing," said Andrew H. Wang, Vice President, OCLC Asia Pacific.  "OCLC has enjoyed an excellent partnership with libraries in Taiwan for more than 20 years.  We welcome these libraries as OCLC Governing Members, and look forward to many more years of library cooperation in Taiwan."

The Ministry of Education of the Taiwan government "strongly supports this new initiative" and provides financial support for the partnership, added Mr. Wang.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit library membership and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent and preservation services to 57,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories.  OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for finding library materials.  For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

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