Going forward in 2008

Three innovative programs are presenting the OCLC cooperative with some exciting opportunities.

First, since May 2007, 12 libraries in Montana have been participating in the WorldCat Delivery pilot. The pilot integrates circulation, interlibrary loan and direct delivery options. Users can generate requests for items via the library’s local system, WorldCat Resource Sharing or ILLiad. The pilot libraries have the option of sending items directly to requesting users instead of the borrowing libraries. Users can send the borrowed items back to the libraries in easy-to-use mailers, or as one satisfied user put it,“Like Netflix, but for books! Great idea!” We are learning a lot from this pilot about the key components of home delivery. Going forward, we will add these components to OCLC services as we continue to work on a comprehensive end-user physical delivery solution.

Second, we have been running pilots of WorldCat Local at a variety of sites in the U.S. WorldCat Local enables a library or group of libraries to customize WorldCat.org as a solution for local discovery and delivery services. The new service integrates access to a library’s entire collection of information resources through a simple, locally branded search box. It interoperates with locally maintained services, such as circulation, resource sharing and resolution to full text, to create an integrated experience for library users. It includes more than 30 million article citations and social networking services. We are integrating WorldCat Local with systems used by pilot libraries, including SirsiDynix Horizon and Unicorn and Ex Libris Voyager, and will move to other systems, such as Ex Libris Aleph.

As this service moves into production, three libraries have partnered with OCLC to use WorldCat Local: Cornell University Library, the State Library of Ohio, and the University of Delaware Library.

In January 2008, we started the Next Generation Cataloging and Metadata service pilot project. It will explore the viability of capturing ONIX metadata upstream from publishers and vendors and enhancing that metadata in WorldCat. A variety of academic and public libraries, publishers and vendors will participate in the pilot. The pilot will provide a way to store, enhance and normalize publisher metadata for the benefit of both library and publishing communities. Librarians will be involved in raising the quality of metadata in the marketplace where they select and purchase materials.

The start of the Next Generation Cataloging pilot coincides with the recent release of the Report on the Future of Bibliographic Control by the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, which was formed by the Library of Congress to address changes in how libraries must do their work in the digital information era. The ability to leverage upstream publisher data effectively is central to the Working Group’s recommendations.

We are pleased to be moving in the same direction as the Working Group’s recommendations. Indeed, as we embark on this latest pilot, our intent is to offer libraries bibliographic control services based on reengineered, technology-based methods. The goal is to lower library costs for collecting and organizing mainstream publications so that libraries can reallocate staff resources to new strategic initiatives that include a wide array of materials, diverse user communities and many sources of metadata.

These three programs testify to the willingness of OCLC member libraries to get involved in the development of new services. The OCLC cooperative is fortunate to have member libraries willing to take risks on behalf of the entire membership. As the OCLC cooperative begins its 41st year, we are on the threshold of creating significant value at the local, group and global levels.

Jay Jordan
OCLC President and Chief Executive Officer

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