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Bergen Community College simplifies operations and strengthens discovery with WMS

After years on a local ILS, Bergen Community College migrated to WorldShare Management Services (WMS), consolidating cataloging, resource sharing, and discovery in a cloud-based platform, reducing maintenance overhead, and giving staff more flexibility to optimize services over time.

Key outcomes

  • Reduced local IT burden by moving from an on-site server environment to a cloud-based platform
  • Consolidated cataloging, ILL, holdings, and discovery, eliminating the need to pay separately for a discovery layer
  • Improved e-resource workflows using KBART and API-driven collection updates
  • Increased long-term confidence in platform stability by partnering with a nonprofit, vendor-neutral organization
Photo: Students at the Bergen Community College Library
Photo courtesy of Bergen Community College

David Marks, Dean of the Library at Bergen Community College, has been using WorldCat since his days in library school. By the time the college started evaluating options for a new library services platform, it was already relying on OCLC services for key workflows, like cataloging and interlibrary loan. Bergen's legacy environment was built using an on-site server, forcing staff to personally manage local infrastructure, backups, and ongoing updates. When a cloud version became the next step for that legacy platform, Bergen took the opportunity to rethink its direction.

Go "all in" on a platform that unifies library workflows

Because Bergen already used OCLC services for bibliographic records and ran a robust ILL program, moving to WMS was a natural next step. The library wanted a solution that could bring together local holdings and resource sharing across member libraries while also simplifying the technology footprint. With discovery included, Bergen could avoid paying extra for a separate layer and instead focus on configuring one experience for users.

Build the decision with the people who run the work

Bergen formed a library committee that included representation from access services and technical services and was empowered to lead the functional evaluation—especially since the overall cost was comparable once the library accounted for the full set of legacy services and support. The library team also emphasized the importance of vendor stability: they wanted confidence it wouldn’t be forced into repeated migrations due to acquisitions or shifting ownership.

“OCLC is a nonprofit and is vendor neutral. That was a deciding factor for us… we’re not going to be doing this migration all the time.”

David Marks
Dean of Library Services, Bergen Community College

Gain efficiency in e-resources—and keep improving discovery

With WMS, Bergen has focused on improving e-resource management workflows, including KBART-based collection updates and more efficient handling of data through APIs. The library also continues to refine discovery settings over time, making adjustments as new needs arise and as vendors and content sources change. Bergen's implementation experience was strengthened by OCLC's cohort model, which brought together a range of academic libraries—two-year and four-year institutions, including peers in the same region. That structure helped Bergen learn from others and move faster with configuration decisions.

Keep momentum through peer networking

After migration, Bergen continued building relationships with nearby libraries through regional OCLC events and ongoing professional connections. For Marks, that peer network is part of what helps libraries avoid working in isolation: sharing ideas on policies, workflows, and optimization over time.

July 2026