All mashed up

Clouds, mash ups and Web services are tech terms that are resonating throughout the information industry. They are also part of the next generation of library services that we are developing at OCLC.

Broadly defined, Web services enable applications to interconnect over the Web through machine-to-machine interfaces. They cover a wide range of activities that let people tap into computing power on the Web. Here are some examples of how OCLC is implementing them.

• The xISBN service, developed by OCLC Research, supplies International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) associated with an individual intellectual work, based on information in the WorldCat database. Give it one ISBN, and it returns a list of related ISBNs and selected metadata.

• WorldCat Identities creates a summary page for every name in WorldCat. Each page presents a visually attractive summary for the individual or organization identified, including total works, genres, roles and classifications. There is also a publication timeline and an audience-level indicator.

• The WorldCat Registry enables a library to manage its institutional identity more efficiently. On a secure Web platform, a library can create and maintain a single profile that includes information of use to the library’s consortium members, technology vendors, e-content providers, funding agencies and other partners. This access enables the library to automate routine tasks such as activation of a new subscription service or renewal of an existing one.

We recently invited a small group of developers from OCLC cataloging institutions in North America and Europe to use the WorldCat API (Applications Programming Interface) to build applications that would drive people from the Web to WorldCat and library services. These developers could then link WorldCat information to Internet applications as well as presentations, blogs and e-mails. This shared development will enhance the creativity and usage of this data.

Most recently, OCLC and Google have agreed to exchange data that will facilitate the discovery of library collections through Google search services. OCLC member libraries participating in the Google Book Search™ program, which makes the full text of more than one million books searchable, may share their WorldCat-derived MARC records with Google to better facilitate discovery of library collections through Google. Google will link from Google Book Search to WorldCat.org, which will drive traffic to library OPACs and other library services.

Finally, it should be noted that OCLC services and governance of the cooperative have always been intertwined. Indeed, we are going forward not only with next-generation services, but also with a next-generation governance structure for the OCLC cooperative. (See page 20). These changes in governance are designed to extend participation in the cooperative by an increasing number of libraries and cultural heritage institutions around the world.

For the OCLC cooperative, the future will require even more mash ups—more collaboration, more libraries, more archives and museums, more services on a Web scale and, of course, more innovation.

Jay Jordan
OCLC President and Chief Executive Officer

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