OCLC launches Innovation Lab

By Tom Storey

To speed the adoption of new ideas, new methods and new policies, the OCLC cooperative has launched the OCLC Innovation Lab. The purpose of the new lab, which will be a division in OCLC Research, will be to generate new services, test existing services in new markets, and explore new ways to deliver existing services to the cooperative.

The lab will provide new opportunities for libraries and library developer communities to work directly with OCLC developers and OCLC data and services.

“Given the critical importance of accelerated innovation to the future of the library community, the Innovation Lab will help our membership cooperative become more agile and responsive to library needs,” says Michael A. Teets, Vice President, Innovation. “We want to infuse innovation into all aspects of the OCLC cooperative, whether these are rapid innovation projects or more mature production processes. The result will be faster speed to market by building prototypes and putting them into production much quicker.”

Mike said that the new unit will maintain a close connection with product management and engineering. It will work with OCLC Research, providing a bridge between research, product management and engineering, and will also benefit from working with RLG Program Officers to develop links into the research library community. In addition, the lab will work closely with OCLC business development as new opportunities and partnerships are assessed.

Mike said he is particularly excited about reaching out to librarians around the world to find some of the best ideas and, in some cases, bringing those librarians to Dublin, Ohio, or to other OCLC offices to work with them to develop those ideas.

There are some very bright and creative people in the library community, Mike says. And working with them, the Innovation Lab can explore ideas and develop systems to assure that libraries are well-equipped to extend the value of library services into the digital, networked environment.

The lab will focus its initial efforts on three areas:

• Analytics: Making library data work harder by understanding its usage and influence on purchasing workflows and the movement from print to electronic.

• Mobile technology: Accelerating our mobile deployment, plus testing new mobile gadgets as they are introduced, including the slate/iPad space. We want to put libraries in all of the places users may be.

• Data Innovations: Investigating policy and methods for speeding the path of data innovation in WorldCat and related data sets. As the cooperative needs move beyond simple record supply, the community must explore new ways to involve end users and domain experts, and include rapid integration of research work into a widely available platform.

The lab is already making connections in the standards community. Recently, Mike became a founding board member of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX), an organization that seeks to develop a set of technical, operational and legal requirements and enforcement mechanisms for parties exchanging identity information.

“We opted to participate in OIX to make sure the identity management needs of libraries are met,” Mike says. “A framework that includes libraries could broaden awareness of online access to library materials, and make it easier for libraries to connect citizens to the knowledge they seek in any format, be it purchased, licensed or created. In essence, OIX will put a key piece of the infrastructure puzzle in place and in the process help libraries further reduce access barriers to content.”

Updates | By the numbers