Sponsoring cooperative learning [OCLC]

No.12
ISSN: 1559-0011
June 2009

OCLC supports opportunities to explore new ideas and new thoughts with partners in the information industry

Each year, library leaders and OCLC staff members meet and engage hundreds of passionate information professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, political leaders, trustees, students and library users—all of whom are working to advance research, scholarship, education, community development, information access and global cooperation. The ideas exchanged are often catalysts for new services and program ideas at OCLC and at organizations and groups outside the library community. This collaborative approach to learning and change has been a practice at OCLC since the earliest days of the cooperative. Above are the participants from the Symposium for Publishers and Librarians.

A Symposium for Publishers and Librarians

OCLC recently hosted a Symposium for Publishers and Librarians to discuss metadata needs, practices, life cycle and economics across the communities and to explore opportunities for change. About 50 representatives from the publishing, library, standards and academic communities attended the symposium. The purpose was to identify potential new cost savings and workflow efficiencies for both libraries and publishers in metadata creation and maintenance.

Among the insights:

Libraries and library metadata are not on publishers’ radar and vice versa.

The structure of the MARC and ONIX formats is inhibiting mutual understanding and ability to work together.

Authors and users are important inputs to the metadata debate.

Publishers and libraries need to influence the ILS industry to accommodate data flexibility.

ONIX and MARC are communication mechanisms, not standards to support systems.

Focus on small ‘chunks’ of problem areas where changes can be accomplished. The CIP process and ISNI are good places to start.

JISC Conference 2009—Opening Digital Doors

Lizbeth Goodman, Chair of Creative Technology Innovation at the University of East London, Director of SMARTlab Digital Media Institute and Director of Research for Futurelab, was the keynote speaker at the JISC Annual Conference, which OCLC sponsored.

OCLC sponsored the JISC Conference 2009, “Opening Digital Doors,” in Edinburgh, Scotland. OCLC and JISC share a history of connections and collaboration, as well as a common interest in making libraries and higher education institutions more effective through innovation and shared services.

Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC Chief Strategist and Vice President, OCLC Research, spoke at the event in a session titled, “Higher education in a global economy—the implications for technology and JISC” regarding the changing higher education environment and the impact for JISC and the academic community.

In an interview to mark OCLC’s sponsorship of the conference, Karen Calhoun, Vice President, OCLC WorldCat and Metadata Services, spoke with JISC about what OCLC does to provide digital content for learning and research, as well as how improved access to this well-cataloged knowledge can help to improve the student experience—a key theme of the conference. A podcast of the interview is available on the JISC Web site.

JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee, manages research and development programs and provides leadership in the use of Information Communications Technology (ICT) for teaching, learning, research and administration among United Kingdom Higher and Further Education Institutions.