OCLC and Atlas Systems agree to long-term partnership to continue development of resource sharing services

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 9 January 2009—OCLC and Atlas Systems, creator of ILLiad and Odyssey resource sharing management software, have signed an agreement that enables OCLC to continue to support ILLiad and Odyssey and, in partnership with Atlas Systems, to integrate the software more fully into OCLC delivery services in the coming years.

ILLiad and its document delivery component, Odyssey, provide a faster, more functional alternative to traditional interlibrary loan workflow. The software improves interlibrary loan functions by consolidating all borrowing, lending and tracking capabilities into a single, customizable interface. ILLiad also smoothly integrates with a library's core services, such as WorldCat Resource Sharing, providing the user with access to the world's largest collection of shared resources. More than 1,000 libraries currently use ILLiad software for interlibrary loan management.

Atlas Systems will continue development, training, and installation support of ILLiad software under the new agreement.

"This new agreement ensures tighter integration of ILLiad and Odyssey into current and future resource sharing management services offered by OCLC," said Jason Glover, President, Atlas Systems, Inc. "This will benefit the ILLiad user community for years to come."

OCLC has been the exclusive distributor of ILLiad software since 2000.

"OCLC and Atlas Systems have worked together closely for many years to enhance and improve libraries' resource sharing experiences," said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. "This agreement will ensure even closer collaboration in the future between OCLC and Atlas to provide the most effective solutions to libraries that depend on OCLC ILL and ILLiad."

ILLiad was first developed by the interlibrary loan staff at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and has been expanded and further enhanced by Atlas Systems, Inc., the primary developer for ILLiad.

About Atlas Systems
Atlas Systems is a software development company founded in July 1995 with the mission of developing library automation to “Promote library excellence through efficiency.” Atlas is a process driven software development company. This means working with librarians to first understand the underlying environment to be automated and then designing the software to automate the process. Atlas Systems is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. More information can be found at www.atlas-sys.com/.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation, library management and Web services to 69,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories.  OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world’s richest online resource for finding library materials.  For more information, visit www.oclc.org

Find out more about OCLC

OCLC, OCLC ILLiad and WorldCat are trademarks/service marks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. ILLiad and Odyssey are trademarks/service marks of Atlas Systems. Third-party product, service and business names are trademarks/service marks of their respective owners.