Web-scale Management Services … in their words

In October 2010, OCLC members involved as Web-scale pilots or early adopters gathered at the LITA (Library Information and Technology Association) conference in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. We asked them to share their thoughts about the new service. Their presentations were videotaped and are available for viewing on the OCLC Web site. Below are excerpts.

OCLC Web-scale Management Services offer member libraries a unified solution to help streamline routine tasks like acquisitions, license management and circulation. Moving these functions to the Web allows libraries to lower the total cost of ownership for management services, simplify critical workflows and free staff time for high-priority services and local innovation.

NextSpace: Why did your library choose to get involved with Web-scale services?

Kyle Banerjee, Digital Services Program Manager, Orbis Cascade Alliance
We have 36 catalogs and were thinking, “There’s got to be a better way to do this.” For us, the compelling advantages of Web scale are shared data, shared workflows and a cooperative platform.

Michael Dula, Director for Digital Initiatives and Technology Strategy, Pepperdine University Libraries
We have a lot of good things that librarians could do if we could free up their time. Moving our ILS to the cloud fits our overall technology goals.

Jason Griffey, Head of Library Information Technology, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
We were really, really tired of dealing with data silos. Being able to merge all of our ILS data with the rest of the world, and to profit and benefit from others’ contributions ... that’s a great benefit.

Gina Persichini, Networking Consultant, Idaho Commission for Libraries
The big thing for me is choice. Many small libraries don’t have an automated system. OCLC Web scale offers the best options for small libraries. The opportunities for scalability are huge.

NextSpace: How do you think Web scale can help libraries?

Michael: With WMS, system costs will drop significantly–like “getting another FTE ” significantly. We’re going to save a lot of staff time.

Kyle: Consolidating systems will drastically reduce overhead. And the technical and financial model is one that allows you to realistically migrate.

Gina: Multitype collaboration and affordability are also key. Moving all functionality to one location makes sense. In a town with 20,000 people, you don’t have a lot of IT people looking for work.

Jason: The back-end processes smooth things out to a degree that it really is very different than any other system.

NextSpace: Any comments about the pilot/partnership experience?

Gina: It’s great for small libraries to have a partner for something this big. The ones I’ve been working with are very ready to move into a cloud environment.

Jason: With every iteration of Web scale, there are huge changes and things just get better. As a pilot, we got a great look at how rapidly the service can be improved and added to.

Michael: Web scale is a cultural shift for librarians. A partnership with OCLC is a good thing: they’ve done this before with cooperative cataloging, WorldCat Local, etc.

Kyle: The coolest thing about Web scale is the open platform. We can build workflows that weren’t originally conceived and share new applications with other members. You need a partner like OCLC to make that happen. It’s like the iPhone or Android market … the power isn’t the phone; it’s all the things you can do with it.

Improving access to library materials | By the numbers