This month, four collections from the CONTENTdm Collection of Collections are featured on the OCLC website. The featured collections for May are the International Collections Database, the Sykes Editorial Cartoon Collection, the Science Fiction Fanzine Index and English's Opera House.

International Collections Database University of Washington Libraries The International Collections database showcases some of the visual materials held by the Special Collections Division that focus on collections beyond the scope of the Pacific Northwest region. In this digital collection we feature selected photographs and postcards from Asia and South America including scenes from China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan, 1870s-1930s. Represented are historical events, typical street scenes and native people in traditional dress.

Sykes Editorial Cartoon Collection Virginia Commonwealth University Charles Henry 'Bill' Sykes (1882-1942) was a well respected editorial cartoonist whose work appeared in a number of periodicals including newspapers in Philadelphia. The Sykes Editorial Cartoon Collection consists of 297 original editorial cartoons, four unfinished sketches, a U.S. War Bond poster, and a U.S. Victory poster by Sykes. The cartoons appeared in the Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia) and illustrate the events of the late 1930s and early 1940s with a focus on American reaction to the aggressions of the Axis powers before the U.S. entry into World War II.

Science Fiction Fanzine Index University of Iowa Fanzines are magazines created by the fans rather than being produced professionally. The subject of 'zines, as they are sometimes called, varies widely; they may be about books, music, comic books, movies or sports. In 2004, The University of Iowa Libraries received an enormous collection of science fiction fanzines accumulated by Martin M. (Mike) Horvat, who was offering the set in an online auction. A sampling of covers and tables of contents from the fanzines has been digitized in order to give scholars and fans a sense of this unique collection.

English's Opera House Indianapolis Marion County Public Library Formally opening on September 27, 1880, English’s Opera House quickly became Indianapolis’ leading theater presenting not only opera but drama, musical comedy, ballet, concerts, minstrel shows, lectures, vaudeville and film. Anyone interested in the history of Indianapolis will find much to enjoy in this collection. These are not only programs but also ads for city businesses, previews and reviews of productions, even some jokes and commentary.

WorldShare Management Services is a completely new way to deliver library services. The user will not be aware that all transactions are taking place off-campus at the headquarters of OCLC in Columbus, Ohio. When it was founded in 1971, OCLC was originally the Ohio College Library Center, but it has grown to become the world’s most influential source of bibliographic information, with over 1.8 billion holdings from 72,000 libraries in 170 countries.

Lawrence Tech has been a contributing member of OCLC since 1977, and nearly all of its cataloging records have been imported from OCLC. These records are also the primary source of sharing books and articles among libraries and are the basis for the library’s current interlibrary loan system.

“We have decided to parlay this relationship with OCLC into a stronger one and become the WorldShare Management Services' next new member, among the very first libraries in Michigan and the Midwest to do so,” Library Director Gary Cocozzoli explained.

Although the library’s Sirsi system is robust, continuing with Sirsi would require an investment in replacement parts for the system, additional payments for new services like mobile apps, and the acquisition of at least one new server. The current TechCat catalog software is no longer being supported and would have to be replaced before any further system upgrades could take place.

With that in mind, the librarians started to consider other systems, including open-source software. Nothing seemed ideal until the newly created WorldShare Management Services became available for libraries in late 2011.

WorldShare Management Services streamlines the entire library process starting with the order of an item, the finding of the item, and the item’s checkout and return. It requires little to no campus maintenance, no servers and no special equipment. Lawrence Tech’s IT support staff will be free to assist the library with new services rather than slogging through day-to-day backups, dealing with technical issues, and going through the difficult process of upgrading the software at least once a year. All that will be taken care of by OCLC.

As WorldShare Management Services members develop new applications, other members can share these “apps.” WorldShare Management Services is standards-based and its members work together to create a library system that is functional and efficient. “The idea of working together with other OCLC WorldShare libraries is an exciting aspect of this move,” Cocozzoli said.

OCLC WorldShare Management Services also adds a Discovery platform, a white-hot new concept in the library world.

“Imagine searching one interface and getting all of LTU’s books, all of the books from other libraries, and journal articles from the majority of LTU’s 100- plus databases all at the same time through a single common interface,” Cocozzoli said. “If LTU does not own the book or article, the request can be placed for an interlibrary loan right from the interface.”

A Discovery platform as a stand-alone software would be extremely expensive to introduce, but one will be included with LTU’s subscription to WorldShare Management Services.

Initially, not all of LTU’s 101 databases will be in WorldShare Management Services, but the majority will. All of the current databases will still be searchable through their native interfaces.

This OCLC News Item is from the Lawrence Technological University's article, “New WorldShare system will supercharge library services.” Published on the web, it was used with permission from the Managing Editor, University News Bureau, Lawrence Technological University. The original story is available on the Lawrence Technological University website at: http://technews.ltu.edu/index.php/2012/02/29/new-worldshare-system-will-supercharge-library-services/

Gregg A. Silvis,
Assistant Director for
Library Computing
Systems at the
University of Delaware

To reinvest in libraries.

During a recent Library Journal Webcast Event, Gregg A. Silvis, Assistant Director for Library Computing Systems at the University of Delaware, discussed his library’s selection of OCLC WorldShare™ Management Services. 

The impending demise of the local OPAC
Over the years, I’ve given a presentation called, “The Impending Demise of the Local OPAC”—why we came to have these local OPACs, and why they were going to go away. Libraries throughout the world are duplicating efforts, such as loading records, indexing, backing up data, as well as authority control, user interface design, system maintenance—the list goes on. And in replacing the printed card catalog with electronic records, libraries have perpetuated the redundancies that existed in the print environment. The current infrastructure was premised on—and designed for—the local loading of bibliographic records.

Thankfully, things have changed. For the University of Delaware Library, the path to WorldShare Management Services began in August 2008, when we implemented WorldCat Local. In late 2011, we discussed the possibility of the WorldCat knowledge base and License Manager—but then made the decision to go with WorldShare Management Services and License Manager. Our implementation is scheduled for July 2013.

Why OCLC WorldShare Management Services?

We wanted to provide our users a better discovery experience. And we had, just like everyone else, problems with silos. We have DSpace, we have OCLC’s CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software, this library is an early adopter of ARTstor Shared Shelf Commons, and we have special collections finding aids, in addition to all of the licensed databases.  So the goal was—to whatever extent possible—bring as many of these resources as possible to one easily searchable place—fully recognizing that all of the functionality in every database won’t be able to be duplicated, but at least it was a good starting place.

We wanted to reduce duplication of effort. We wanted to reduce the amount of time that library staff spend on duplicated efforts, and it’s my firm conviction that the future of libraries will not be found in commodity records for commodity books. What we really need to focus on is our special and unique materials.

We wanted to meet library priorities. So in avoiding duplication of effort, we can now deploy staff for other needs and other purposes in the library. Shortly after we decided to go with WorldShare Management Services, we made the decision in this library to discontinue doing local authority control. We had a number of staff dedicated to local authority control and subject headings and all of that in the local system, and it occurred to us, that in the move to WorldShare Management Services, it didn’t really make sense for us to be doing that any more. So we reassigned some of those staff to do special collections cataloging. We assigned another staff member to work in the Center for Digital Collections to digitize materials. Like many other libraries, we have a local A–Z journal list that we maintain and we are questioning if we really need to do things like that in house any more, if we can rely on WorldShare Management Services and the WorldCat knowledge base to support that function. So what we’ve really done is reexamine the workflow in technical services, particularly for e-resources.

Reinvesting in the cooperative—reinvesting in libraries
It’s very important to me that OCLC WorldShare Management Services represent a reinvestment in the OCLC cooperative. We are, of course, reinvesting our maintenance dollars into the cooperative, rather than our maintenance dollars going outside the library system to private individuals, to equity firms, to stockholders—they are being reinvested in the library cooperative. And it’s not just financial, but also our staff resources. With things like the APIs (application programming interfaces) that will be available in WorldShare Management Services, we will be able to build services that other libraries will be able to use, rather than having them custom-made for our systems here, which will enable us to allow other people to use these resources.  

Slides and audio recording are available online.

Located in the Netherlands, the University of Groningen library has digitized a number of its older and special collections and then published them online using OCLC’s CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software.

By putting the digital collections online, the library provides the university’s approximately 28,000 students, and other interested parties worldwide, with web access to its more than 50,000 scanned pages, handwritten letters and photographs.

"We wanted a system that would be fairly maintenance free, with flexibility when it comes to metadata and design, and that can run on our own server," says Alie Bijker, digitization project manager at the university library, about choosing CONTENTdm. "And OCLC provides good support and documentation and regular updates."

Available through CONTENTdm, the university provides online access to the following digital collections:

•  Manuscripts by the seventeenth-century mathematician Frans van Schooten,
•  Letters written by Dutch philosopher Frans Hemsterhuis (18th century),
•  Collections of the Biography Institute, and
•  One of the library’s rare collections, 127 fragments of Greek papyri.

This rare collection of papyri is stored in a safe, but is now visible to everyone via the web without risk of damage or wear and tear, nor is its viewing dependent the library's hours and staff availability. [Image: Fragment of Greek papyri. Letter of Isaios. AD 200-400.]

"We started our project with a pilot, to see what working with CONTENTdm was like. We really had to get used to it in the beginning but now we have experience with all kinds of ways to upload collections and make them visible," says Bijker on their CONTENTdm implementation. "Additionally, one of the projects we have planned is the presentation of some medical study collections from the University Museum. It is intended for these items to be rotatable."

The University of Groningen's digital collections are available at: http://facsimile.ub.rug.nl/cdm/

Version 2.40 is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows and supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, but does not support Windows 2000. Version 2.40 uses .NET Framework 4 Extended which is supplied with the Connexion client 2.40 software. You will be required to upgrade to version 2.40 by October 1, 2012. An upgrade warning message will begin appearing when you start version 2.10, 2.20, or 2.30 beginning in early August 2012.

Connexion client is the Windows-based interface to Connexion. This announcement does not impact the Connexion browser, which is the Web-based interface to Connexion.

View information about Connexion client or download the software

View the upgrade instructions

The article, which is titled "Implementing a new cloud computing library management service," is the story of how Pepperdine University migrated its library management functions to the cloud using what is now known as OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services (WMS).

This implementation story is told from two vantage points: that of the library and that of the service provider.

Authors Michael Dula and Lynne Jacobsen of Pepperdine University Libraries and Tyler Ferguson and Rob Ross of OCLC were the principal collaborators for this pilot project, which took place between June and December 2010. In this article, the authors outline the stages of adopting and deploying OCLC WMS. The process described and the advice shared, however, apply to the adoption of other systems as well.

Read the full article from the January/February 2012 issue of Computers in Libraries, published by Information Today, Inc.

Used with permission. All rights reserved. Individuals may download, store, and print a single copy. All commercial uses, including making printed copies for distribution in bulk at trade shows or in marketing campaigns and all commercial reprints require additional permission from the publisher. www. infotoday.com

The Sydney center employs state-of-the-art technologies to ensure high levels of performance, reliability, scalability and cost-effectiveness. Key facilities features include high performance Internet services with multiple service providers to ensure efficient routing, fully redundant heating and cooling systems, continuous power from multiple sources, and best of breed security controls and practices.

In addition, the new center enables OCLC to comply with access and data privacy requirements in Australia and New Zealand and adhere to technical standards that promote the cost-effective, worldwide sharing of information across platforms, scripts, languages and cultural materials.  OCLC recently obtained its ISO 27001 certification which bolsters the position of trust in OCLC-hosted solutions and will assure the security of member data.

"Our infrastructure strategy for global delivery requires that we offer services from multiple data centers," said Gene Oliver, Executive Director, Systems Management, OCLC. "This center allows us to provide cloud-based services in Australia and New Zealand. It also enables us to meet statutory and regulatory requirements and provide the high levels of system availability, security and performance that libraries have come to expect from OCLC. We've brought the best of people, process and technology together to meet our technical requirements while making the operation as green as possible."

"Service and support are two key factors in how Australian and New Zealand libraries choose services," said Chris Thewlis, OCLC Regional Manager, Australia. "This new data center illustrates a commitment to build and connect a larger community of libraries in this part of the world to the OCLC global cooperative."

The new data center will support the introduction of OCLC WorldShare Management Services, a new cloud-based approach to managing library services cooperatively that gives libraries more time to serve community needs. WorldShare Management Services provides the tools to streamline library workflows, reduce costs and provide new opportunities for collaboration—to connect knowledge in new ways from a globally linked network of library collections to today’s digitally empowered user.

Eight Australian libraries will begin pilot testing OCLC WorldShare Management Services later this month.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

The China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) has loaded 500,000 monograph records into WorldCat that became accessible to WorldCat® Resource Sharing users on March 1, 2012.

CALIS will loan book chapters and articles, but not physical books. The monograph records all contain the OCLC® symbol "CALIS" and are owned by academic members of the CALIS consortium. The records are for monographs published from 1987 to 2001 in the fields of philosophy, economics, science of law, education, literature, history, management, science, technology, agriculture and medical sciences.

Borrowing libraries should anticipate longer response time for fulfillment to allow CALIS to process requests. Normally, CALIS will process and fill a document delivery
request for book chapters and articles within two to three business days.

To celebrate CALIS' participation in OCLC's global resource sharing network, the first 500 requests to CALIS and the first 500 requests from CALIS to other libraries will be filled at no charge. These requests must be coded "IFM" in the MAXCOST field.

Guidelines for requesting CALIS items

• The CALIS monograph records in WorldCat all contain the OCLC symbol "CALIS" and are owned by academic members of the CALIS consortium.
• All loan requests will go through CALIS, which will confirm ownership of requested items and coordinate fulfillment with the borrowing and lending libraries.
• Borrowing libraries should anticipate a response time of two to three business days for most document delivery requests for book chapters and articles.
• These documents can be conveniently delivered through OCLC's Article Exchange document-sharing site, which is accessible from within WorldCat Resource Sharing and an add-on to the ILLiad® Resource Sharing Management Software.

In addition, enhancements to integrated OCLC services—such as WorldCat Local and the WorldCat knowledge base—also provide benefits to WMS users.

True to the WorldShare global focus and commitment, an additional data center is planned for operation in Australia in March and WorldShare Management Services has new currency options for the Acquisitions workflow.

Highlights of this comprehensive release:

• Provided at no additional charge to WMS users, support for the SIP2 protocol for self-check machines has been added.
• Consortial functionality in the WorldCat knowledge base is available so groups can share both collections and library holdings with all members.
• Content additions have been made to WorldCat Local – the single-search discovery and user interface for WorldShare Management Services. New agreements with leading publishers around the world have added important new content and collections to WorldCat Local. Users now have access to more than 1,700 databases and collections, and more than 650 million articles.
• Full-text searching of IEEE content through WorldCat Local follows the addition of full-text content from IEEE to the WorldCat Local central index. Also supported is full-text searching within the BioOne and Emerald collections and new content from additional sources will be added on an ongoing basis.

Coming soon will be the ability for libraries to grant specific patrons (e.g., subject matter selectors) the right to submit a list of titles via WorldCat Local for purchase consideration. The list creates a standard purchase order in WorldShare Acquisitions that can be approved and submitted according to library procedures.

Many additional enhancements for Circulation, Acquisitions, and other functional areas are described in detail in the complete Release Notes on the User Support Center (login required).

OCLC WorldShare Management Services provide libraries with a new approach to managing library services cooperatively, including integrated acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, resource sharing, license management and patron administration, as well as a next-gen discovery tool for library users.

This month, four collections from the CONTENTdm Collection of Collections are featured on the OCLC Web site. The featured collections for March are Galveston 1915 Hurricane Photographs, The Baton Rouge Digital Archive from the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, World and Regional Maps Collection, 16th-19thc. and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Galveston 1915 Hurricane Photographs University of Houston, M.D. Anderson Library While many people are familiar with the Great Storm that devastated Galveston in 1900, fewer are aware of the hurricane that made landfall on August 17, 1915. Although the 1915 storm caused $50 million worth of property damage, it only resulted in 275 deaths because of the protective seawall that had been constructed following the 1900 hurricane. The black and white photographs in this collection were taken by Rex Dunbar Frazier, a representative of Stone & Webster Engineering who went to the region to collect data and document damage.

The Baton Rouge Digital Archive from the East Baton Rouge Parish Library East Baton Rouge Parish Library The Baton Rouge Digital Archive is a collection of items that represent significant historical actions of local governments, businesses, residents and institutions of the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish. These items include but are not limited to photographs, manuscripts, documents, periodical publications, audio and video recordings and memorabilia held in the Baton Rouge Room at the River Center Library. The library has partnered with local collectors and historical societies to enhance this online collection.

World and Regional Maps Collection, 16th-19thc. University of Washington Libraries Combining large-scale scanning techniques, CONTENTdm software, and scholarly research on each map’s creation and context, this database allows researchers to access over 170 color digital images of examples from the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division’s Rare Map Collection. Maps included date from the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries with coverage spanning:  the world, Western and Eastern Hemispheres, continents, countries and cities.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Southern Oregon University In 2009 Hannon Library was awarded an LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) Grant, through the Oregon State Library, that funded collaboration between Southern Oregon University, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Southern Oregon Historical Society to digitize images documenting the history, culture, and growth of Southern Oregon. This picture collection, from the archives of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, includes production stills, sets of Shakespearean and other plays, backstage teams, and theaters from OSF's beginnings in 1935 through 2009.

In March 2010, EBSCO acquired the NetLibrary Division of OCLC as well as the rights to license a select number of publisher-owned databases available through FirstSearch. The current transaction completes the transfer of OCLC's rights to license publisher-owned databases on FirstSearch that began under the 2010 agreement.

EBSCO has agreed to host, distribute and support these licensed databases, and plans to load the databases and begin providing access to users on EBSCOhost. OCLC and EBSCO are working together to ensure a smooth transition for users, and uninterrupted service for customers.

FirstSearch remains part of OCLC's discovery and delivery services. As these services become part of the OCLC WorldShare Platform, FirstSearch users will see improved integration and workflows. OCLC will continue to provide access to WorldCat and other databases published by OCLC, such as ArticleFirst, OCLC WorldCat Dissertations and Theses, SCIPIO and Electronic Books.

"OCLC's strategy is to provide a neutral platform that libraries can rely on to manage and offer access to their collections," said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. "Instead of hosting and reselling content, we want to partner with content providers so that we can incorporate their collections into the OCLC WorldShare Platform, help our members automate their collection workflows, and improve access to content."

The OCLC WorldShare Platform is a global, interconnected Web architecture that supports OCLC's Webscale services and applications, and provides flexible, open access to library data through APIs and other Web services. Library service and content providers, like EBSCO, can offer libraries access to their content and services through the OCLC WorldShare Platform.

OCLC started the FirstSearch service in the early 1990s, which shifted the model from mediated to patron accessible online reference services. Much of the content available on the FirstSearch service was licensed from publishers or database providers. "Today, content reselling is a mature business and is best done by companies that specialize in the field. Libraries will be better served by EBSCO, one of the leading service providers in the field," said Mr. Nilges.

OCLC has agreed to assign to EBSCO the hosting contracts for the following databases:

• Anthropological Index
• Anthropological Literature
• Anthropology Plus
• Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
• Chicano Database
• FRANCIS
• Heritage of the Printed Book (formerly Hand Press Book)
• History of Science, Technology and Medicine
• Index to 19th-Century American Art Periodicals
• Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies

Senior Vice President of Business Development at EBSCO Publishing, Mark Herrick, says the databases involved will fit in nicely with the current database offerings from EBSCO Publishing. "These databases from FirstSearch will both complement and augment the databases available on EBSCOhost. Since EBSCOhost is the most-used research platform, we expect a smooth transition for libraries and their end users."

Offering these resources on EBSCOhost is in line with EBSCO's approach to making available the highest quality subject indexes. Customers of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) who subscribe to these databases on EBSCOhost will be able to leverage EBSCO's unique Platform Blending technology to infuse results from these databases into their EDS experience.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost®, the world’s premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of journals and magazines than any other discovery service (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org. 

Under this new partnership, Relais will use the WorldCat Search API so that library staff can search WorldCat from within Relais to retrieve holdings information. Relais will also use the WorldCat Resource Sharing API so that requests and updates can be sent to and received from the OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing service.

These options for access to OCLC will be available to Relais users whose institutional holdings are visible on WorldCat.org and who subscribe to the WorldCat Resource Sharing service. Libraries that qualify for keys to the APIs will be able to activate the services within Relais.

This partnership is facilitated through the new OCLC WorldShare Platform, which enables OCLC and library partners to configure and share a wide range of applications that deliver new functionality and value for libraries and their users.

"This new agreement will allow Relais resource sharing users to expand the reach of their searches to include the thousands of OCLC Resource Sharing libraries worldwide," said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. "We're pleased to have Relais as a partner, creating more value for libraries through collaboration on the OCLC WorldShare Platform."

As an OCLC partner, Relais is considering using other APIs to gain access to the OCLC Policies Directory and the newly deployed Article Exchange document-sharing site.

About Relais International
Relais International Inc. is based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and has been selling systems to support interlibrary loan and document delivery services since 1996. Relais International (www.relais-intl.com) assists libraries in implementing intelligent and automated methods to support the delivery of documents. Relais products range from scanning stations to fully integrated request management, scanning and delivery software suitable for single libraries and consortia.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search www.worldcat.org on the Web. For more information, visit the OCLC website www.oclc.org.