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Connecting libraries: Bavarian State Library, Germany
We were honored with the national “Library of the Year 2008” award for our innovative services by the German Library Association and the Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius Foundation. We have been an OCLC member since 2006 and use WorldCat cataloging and resource sharing. We are a member of OCLC because we want to open up our rich, historical collections by making them digitally available through our Web site and WorldCat.org. WorldCat is indeed an extremely powerful resource. When it comes to bibliographic metadata, I believe it is one of the most important resources available worldwide and, with WorldCat.org, it is the best way that the library community can achieve a truly international, unified presence on the Web. Furthermore, WorldCat is excellent at integrating its content with the major search engines and aggregators, such as Google and Yahoo!, while also offering an abundance of personalized services, such as the “Find items in libraries near you” function that guides users to local holdings.
Because of all of this, I believe that WorldCat presents an excellent opportunity for libraries to improve their Internet visibility significantly. Something else that I feel is extremely important is that OCLC consistently seeks to integrate WorldCat into state-of-the-art Internet technologies. The most recent evidence of this is the specially adapted WorldCat interface for mobile devices, particularly the iPhone, which will benefit OCLC members significantly. Our rich collections have been developed over 450 years. We can provide WorldCat with much more than additional holdings—we can offer unique content. About half of the titles we have loaded into WorldCat are new records. This not only enhances WorldCat, but it is also important for research and education that we expose these valuable resources and share our collection with the world. The quality of our holdings can currently be seen in the usage of another OCLC service. From July to December 2009, we used WorldCat Resource Sharing on a trial basis. During that six-month period, we averaged about 2,000 interlibrary loan requests per month. The majority came from the U.S., but in all we received requests from libraries in 25 countries. Because we can now share our collections with the world, we will continue using this service. To help OCLC become more of a global cooperative, I have worked on developing the new governance structure along with many other delegates. This was necessary since, over the years, OCLC had added thousands of member libraries around the world and needed to broaden its perspective. The new governance structure is designed to extend participation around the world. OCLC’s three Regional Councils—the Americas, including the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean; Asia Pacific, which includes countries in the Asia Pacific region; and EMEA, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa—represent the localization component of this new global endeavor. It is important to note that in these regions, OCLC operates in business areas that differ greatly. In the Americas, the focus is WorldCat and related services. In the European region, the focus is Integrated Library Services (ILS), while in Asia-Pacific, it is a broad range of diverse products. The Regional Councils will help bring together these diverse interests into a single organization that represents its members. The Regional Councils channel specific requests from the various regions to the Global Council and to OCLC management and the Board of Trustees. The regional influence of member libraries in Germany, and, consequently, our opportunities for participation, will increase significantly. Of course, one should not forget that “our” region, EMEA, in turn represents a conglomeration of highly differing customer groups and product foci in an extremely geographically diversified structure. The changes to OCLC governance strengthen the OCLC cooperative and turn it into a truly global one, with local connections and local touch through the Regional Councils. I look forward to working with OCLC and my colleagues in this new structure for the benefit of users worldwide. |
Located in Munich, 
