OCLC Members Council discusses values of the cooperative

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA,  15 November 2006—OCLC Members Council discussed the history of cooperatives and how OCLC and its member libraries share values that have strengthened each individual institution and the organization as a whole after nearly 40 years in a radically changing environment.  Following the three-day meeting, many delegates participated in an event to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Frederick G. Kilgour, founder of the OCLC cooperative, who died July 31.

Under the leadership of Ernie Ingles, OCLC Members Council President and Vice-Provost and Chief Librarian, University of Alberta, OCLC Canada, Council met October 29-31 in Dublin, Ohio, in the first of three 2006/2007 Members Council meetings with the theme, "OCLC Organizational Dissonance: The New Harmony."  Delegates took a brief historical look at global cooperation, heard updates on OCLC activities, and reviewed plans for the future. 

Ian MacPherson, Director, British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, provided a brief history of cooperatives in his presentation, "Enduring Values: The Global Impact of Co-operatives." 

Dr. MacPherson noted that there are more than 300 different kinds of cooperatives in the world.  About 750,000 individual cooperatives serve approximately 800 million members, and cooperatives affect the lives of more than 2 billion people, according to the United Nations.

He traced the history of cooperatives from examples of instinctive cooperation in nature, to the necessity of human cooperation for survival.  He provided examples of cooperation to improve the quality of life in tribes and villages, unified moves to spark civil unrest and revolution, and cooperative efforts to improve conditions in slums and decaying cities, as well as in farm country and rural areas.  He pointed to cooperatives organized around interests such as consumerism, housing, health care, banking and education.

"Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity," said Dr. MacPherson.  "In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others."

Dr. MacPherson noted OCLC's stewardship of libraries since the cooperative was formed in 1967.  He said that changes in information technology have made it necessary for OCLC and its member libraries to adjust over the years, and he offered some questions for OCLC management, delegates, trustees and members to consider as the cooperative moves forward, including:

• When an organization grows larger, how does it retain a sense of ownership?
• What are OCLC's roles in the community of librarians and libraries, and what alliances are important in serving those communities?
• What can OCLC do to serve the needs of the broader community?
• How can OCLC assist in making access to information easier?
• Can OCLC play a role in helping libraries in other countries secure more resources?
• What are OCLC's obligations as a cooperative?
• How do you see OCLC's roles amid the current trends of globalization?

President's Update

Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO, provided an update on OCLC's activities since the last Members Council meeting in May.  He noted that WorldCat, the largest database of records from collections of the world's libraries and a shining symbol of cooperation, is now available on the Web, released in August.  "WorldCat.org leverages the investment that libraries have made in their catalogs.  It's an incomparable resource that is now readily available to people around the world," said Mr. Jordan.

He noted that WorldCat is growing at an extraordinary rate?libraries have added more than 12 million records so far in calendar 2006.  He said part of this growth is attributable to improvements in batchloading capabilities, and part is due to the loading of large files such as the Dutch Central Catalogue and the German National Library.

Mr. Jordan noted other global cooperative efforts, such as the recent agreement between LIBER (the European Research Library Organization) and OCLC to exchange bibliographic records about digital masters.  Full information about digitized print material from both European and U.S. libraries will be united in a central Registry of Digital Masters, which will be freely accessible for online searching.

"This collaboration is the first step toward a global registry.  The next step is to involve libraries and groups in more regions of the world to ensure comprehensive coverage in this new registry," said Mr. Jordan.

"OCLC's unique value proposition is our ability to deliver local and group solutions that leverage the value of the global network and simultaneously add value to the global network," said Mr. Jordan.  "Fred Kilgour understood the power of 'The Network Effect' to create local economies and system-wide efficiencies.  In order to ultimately fulfill his dream, our strategic direction for 2007 and beyond is to continue to move more and more of the library's collections and services to the network."

Rein van Charldorp, Managing Director, OCLC PICA, described PICA's expanding role as database provider, local systems, resource sharing and search systems provider.  OCLC PICA manages the Dutch Union Catalogue as well as the Link UK Union Catalogue.  Millions of new records are being added to WorldCat as a result of new agreements with national libraries.

"Our contibutions to the OCLC Cooperative have been significant?not only in terms of records and member libraries, but also in revenue and services offered," said Dr. van Charldorp.

OCLC PICA acquired Sisis Informationssysteme in June 2005 and Fretwell Downing Informatics in November 2005.  Sisis, now called OCLC PICA Germany, is providing German-speaking users with improved service and support as well as faster updates and enhancements in local and centralized library systems in Europe.  Fretwell Downing, now known as OCLC PICA UK, is looking for ways to enhance resource sharing offerings by combining the capabilities of FDI's VDX, WorldCat Resource Sharing and ILLiad Resource Sharing Management software.

"These acquisitions have allowed us to enlarge the scale of our operations so that we can make necessary investments in infrastructure and development to remain leaders in service to the international library community," said Dr. van Charldorp.

A panel discussion of OCLC PICA activities followed with moderator Berndt Dugall, Direktor/Librarian, Universitat Frankfurt, Universitatsbibliothek Johanne Senckenbenberg; and panelists Alex Klugkist, Director, University of Groningen Library; and Ellen Tise, Senior Director, Library Services, JS Gericke Library, Stellenbosch University.

In his presentation, "Processing the Library Landscape: Creating a Shared View," Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President, OCLC Research and Chief Strategist, suggested that as libraries continue to engage in an ever-changing information landscape, their efforts would be facilitated by a shared view of how library services should be organized and surfaced.

Mr. Dempsey said that information providers cannot provide all information to all types of audiences, so they are trying to determine how they can best serve audiences in a shared manner at a higher level.  

Developing a service framework involves surveying the range of activities in the environment, and identifying common patterns.  These patterns can then be used to identify opportunities to build capacity, reduce redundancy, encourage efficiency and move services to the shared network level—which comprises local, group and global nodes working together symbiotically.  This saves resources and facilitates the delivery of services at the point of need for the user.

"Frameworks help us to develop fruitful conversations about where we are and where we want to go," said Mr. Dempsey.  "Frameworks can help us to communicate the value of library services and the aggregate library resource in new environments-they help put libraries into the flow of information.  And they help us to mobilize library resources in ways that promote efficiency, flexibility and interoperability."

Progress on combining OCLC and RLG

On July 1, 2006, RLG and OCLC combined their organizations and resources.  RLG's products and services are being integrated with OCLC's, and RLG's program initiatives are going forward in a new division of OCLC Programs and Research.

Of the 154 institutions that were RLG members at the signing of the agreement, 95 percent have elected to become RLG partners.  The vast majority of these institutions are also cataloging with OCLC.

Gary Houk, Vice President, OCLC Corporate Information Technology and Business Integration, and Jim Michalko, Vice President, OCLC RLG Programs Development, provided delegates with an update on progress of combining OCLC and RLG organizations, products and services.

Projects are well under way to move services from RLG to OCLC, and to integrate technical services, discovery and interlibrary loan services.  Substantial progress is also being made to integrate infrastructure of the combined organization.

Integration goals include: no disruption of service delivery; to complete the migration and integration by June 2007; to meet or exceed user expectations for all services; and to fully engage RLG Service Center staff in continuing operations, OCLC strategy and projects.

Members Council also:

• Heard a financial report from Rick Schwieterman, OCLC Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
• Heard a joint presentation that provided an overview of the digitization process including digital capture at the OCLC Preservation Service Center, OCR processing through docWORKS and digital collection presentation via CONTENTdm software.  The joint presentation and discussion were led by Greg Zick, Vice President, OCLC Digital Services; Debra Spruill, Director, OCLC Preservation Center; and Richard Helle, Executive Director, Content Conversion Services.
• Met in small, library-type groups and interest groups for discussions.  Delegates also discussed a broad range of issues in plenary sessions.

The next OCLC Members Council meeting will be February 5-7 in Quebec City, Canada, the first meeting to be held outside the United States.

A tribute to Frederick G. Kilgour

Following the Members Council meeting October 31, OCLC hosted an event to honor Frederick G. Kilgour, founder of OCLC, who died July 31, 2006.

The program included remarks by Mr. Jordan; William Crowe, member of the OCLC Board of Trustees; Mr. Ingles; and Jose Marie Griffiths, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  There were also video tributes from library leaders in Taiwan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as video excerpts of interviews with Mr. Kilgour.

"Now in its 28th year, Members Council has evolved as a voice of the OCLC membership, and as a provider of advice and counsel to OCLC management," said Mr. Ingles.  "It has also become increasingly international, both in its composition and in its perspective.  Members Council is a tribute to Fred Kilgour's vision for OCLC as a membership organization, as one that stayed in touch with its users."

Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, Mayor of the City of Dublin, Ohio, read a proclamation honoring Mr. Kilgour with a special day in Dublin, and announced that the city would officially change the name of the street location of OCLC to 6565 Kilgour Place.

See a recorded webcast of the event to honor Mr. Kilgour at http://www.oclc.org/index/kilgour/.

About Members Council
The 66-delegate Members Council 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.  By providing a channel for recommendations and questions from Members Council delegates, approving changes in the Code of Regulations, and electing six members of the Board of Trustees, Members Council helps shape the future direction of OCLC.

About OCLC
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, e-content and preservation services to 57,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories.  For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

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