Your OCLC Online Service Center institution account lets you access the Online Service Center on behalf of your library or institution to:
Your institution account is associated with your OCLC symbol, which identifies your library or institution as a user of OCLC services. In the Online Service Center, your OCLC symbol and your OCLC account number appear at the top of each page, below your library or institution name.
If your library or institution has multiple OCLC symbols, you need an Online Service Center institution account for each OCLC symbol for which you order services, manage the institution account, or view information.
There are two ways for someone to receive an Online Service Center institution account:
If someone needs an Online Service Center institution account, you can ask them to create one. They only need to know the OCLC symbol to associate with the account. The account that they create will have the Administrator access level and can perform all Online Service Center activities.
This is what they would do to create an account:
OCLC sends a welcome message and initial password to the person's e-mail address after it verifies the information and sets up the account.
If you have an Online Service Center institution account with the Administrator access level, you can create an institution account for someone else. It will be associated with the same OCLC symbol that your account is. (Follow steps 1–3 below to see if you have an Administrator account.)
Be prepared to provide the following information about the person:
To create an institution account for someone in the Online Service Center:
OCLC sends a welcome message and initial password to the person's e-mail address after it sets up the account.
Your assistance options are described at the bottom of each page in the Online Service Center.
The Online Service Center contains information about your library's billing accounts that are directly billed by OCLC. The information is updated daily.
You can use the billing information to:
You need an Online Service Center institution account that has the Administrator or Power User access level and is associated with the OCLC symbol for which you want to view the billing information. If your institution has more than one OCLC symbol that is directly billed by OCLC, you need an Online Service Center account for each symbol in order to view its billing information.
It is easy to navigate the billing information in the Online Service Center. Just click Billing Information and follow the instructions and links on the billing information pages.
Read on if you would like more information:
In the Online Service Center, each billing account has four pages:
The top of each billing account page reminds you where you are:
The right side of each billing account page contains links to more information:
From any billing account page for one billing account, you can go to the same page for another account:
Or, you can return to the Billing Information page where you can see all billing account balances:
When you finish using the billing information, you can click Log off at the top of the page to exit the Online Service Center.
Or, you can click Online Service Center in the breadcrumbs to access other Online Service Center features.
For more information about the billing information pages, see the help file for each page:
Consider the following questions if one or more of your billing accounts are not included in the billing information in your Online Service Center account:
If a billing account in the Online Service Center has no invoices, statements, or transactions, it may be an obsolete account or an account that is billed through a Regional Network.
If your library has billing accounts that are directly billed by OCLC and billing accounts that are billed through a Regional Network, both types of accounts are listed on the Billing Information page. However, invoices, statements, and transactions for accounts billed through a Regional Network are not available in the Online Service Center. The account balance for these accounts is shown as $0.00 on the Billing Information page regardless of the actual balance. Contact your local provider for information about these accounts.
Obsolete billing accounts are accounts that are no longer used, have had no activity for at least 18 months, and have no open invoices. The account balance for these accounts is shown as $0.00 on the Billing Information page. No invoices, statements, or transactions are available for these accounts. Send a message to profiling@oclc.org to request removal of an obsolete account.
Use the Billing Information Detail Report to view your monthly OCLC activity by product code, including zero-billed product codes that are not included on your monthly invoice. The report is issued at the same time as monthly invoices and covers product code usage for a single OCLC symbol.
The report is prepared for libraries that are directly billed by OCLC. If your library is billed through a Regional Network, contact your local provider for information about zero-billed product codes.
The report was first issued in September 2008 to cover activity for August 2008. It replaces the Sales Institution Detail Report that was included with invoices covering activity before August 2008.
Billing Information Detail Reports are available for 18 months after their issue date.
Authorization required: You need an authorization and password for OCLC Cataloging, FirstSearch (Administrative or Statistics password), or ILL to access these reports. If you do not have any of them, ask someone who uses one of those services for your library to assist you.
To access Billing Information Detail Reports from the Online Service Center:
Use the OCLC Usage Statistics web site to track your usage of OCLC services by feature and function.
Authorization required: You need an authorization and password for OCLC Cataloging, FirstSearch (Administrative or Statistics password), or ILL to access these reports. If you do not have any of them, ask someone who uses one of those services for your library to assist you.
To access OCLC Usage Statistics from the Online Service Center:
For more information, see OCLC Usage Statistics Help.
Billing information is updated daily, Monday through Friday, between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time.
For help with OCLC billing terminology, see the Glossary.
Your general assistance options are described at the bottom of each page in the Online Service Center.
For specific questions about your billing account, contact OCLC Accounts Receivable. Your contact's name and contact information appear at the bottom of your invoices and statements.
Please send your payment by mail or wire. You cannot pay for an invoice in the Online Service Center.
Include the invoice number and your OCLC account number with your payment.
Send mailed payments to the remit address on your invoice.
Send wired payments using the following information:
To ask a question about payments, contact OCLC Accounts Receivable. Your contact's name and contact information appear at the bottom of your invoices and statements.
See also How do I deposit funds in a subscription deposit account?
To deposit funds in a subscription deposit account, send your payment and a completed Subscription Deposit Prepayment Invoice form to the address on the form.
A subscription deposit account reduces the number of payments that you make to OCLC and earns your library a credit on the monthly balance. More information is included on the form. Contact OCLC Accounts Receivable if you have questions.
The current balances of your billing accounts are listed on the Billing Information page.
Additional information about the current balance of an individual billing account is included on the Account Summary page.
For more information, see How do I navigate our billing information?, Billing Information, and Account Summary.
All available invoices for a billing account are listed on the Invoices page with the most recent invoices listed first.
Click a linked invoice number to view a PDF version of the invoice in a separate window.
Print the invoice using your browser's print capabilities.
For more information, see How do I navigate our billing information? and Invoices.
To get a copy of a closed invoice that was issued more than 18 months ago, contact OCLC Accounts Receivable. Your contact's name and contact information appear at the bottom of your invoices and statements.
All available statements for a billing account are listed on the Statements page with the most recent statements listed first.
Click a linked statement date to view a PDF version of the statement in a separate window.
Print the statement using your browser's print capabilities.
For more information, see How do I navigate our billing information? and Statements.
To get a copy of a statement that was issued more than 18 months ago, contact OCLC Accounts Receivable. Your contact's name and contact information appear at the bottom of your invoices and statements.
All available payments for a billing account are listed on the Transactions page with the most recent payments listed first.
See the glossary for definitions of transaction types.
For more information, see How do I navigate our billing information? and Transactions.
If you are the billing contact for a billing account and your e-mail address is included in your contact information in the Online Service Center, you receive an e-mail notice when a new invoice or statement is added to the billing information in the Online Service Center.
To add your e-mail address to your contact information:
Caution: Before you make a change, be sure that you have identified the correct billing account and that you want to change the contact or address for all invoices and statements for that billing account.
If you have an Online Service Center institution account with the Administrator access level, you can change the billing contact or address for any of your billing accounts.
To change the billing contact and/or address for one of your billing accounts: