Combine academic and public libraries for increased service

According to Library Director Marion Götz, the main focus of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt's library is on “providing students with the best possible support in their studies” and “providing teachers with the best possible teaching support” as well as research. Therefore, the extensive scientific collection includes not only business administration, technology, and health sciences, but also a wide selection of literature in the fields of personal development, foreign language training, and law. Meanwhile, the public library in Wiener Neustadt has a quite different clientele. It sees itself as a media service provider for all interested users from age 0 to 99. It offers its users a “comprehensive stock of print media and electronic media, starting with picture books for the little ones, lots of entertainment literature, non-fiction books, and of course also magazines and special collections," explained Library Director Robert Mech.

Together, the two libraries have formed Austria's first scientific general library, Wissenschaftliche Allgemeinbibliothek Wiener Neustadt, in a pioneering pilot project. This unique cooperation naturally poses new challenges for joint library administration, but WorldShare^® Management Services (WMS) has helped the libraries share management of their collections. In late 2019, the two libraries will move together into a revitalized Carmelite church, where the new public-science library will offer comprehensive lending and research facilities.

“Of course, this pioneering pilot project also presents completely new challenges for library administration, which I am convinced we will master with OCLC. With the official launch of the shared WorldShare Management Services, we have reached the next important milestone in this project.”

Josef Wiesler, former Managing Director

“One of the biggest advantages of WMS is definitely the shared knowledge base, which can save you a lot of work in cataloging, acquiring, and managing suppliers,” said Christoph Schäffler, Systems Librarian at the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt library. “One thing I found very innovative about WMS—and about the presentation in WorldCat^®—was the management of the journals.” Both libraries have extensive e-resource collections, and they benefit from streamlined management of e-resources through WMS. “Many publishing packages are already integrated in the knowledge base,” Christoph added, “and you can easily add licensed e-books or e-journals to a collection with simple mouse clicks.”

Not only has WMS helped the libraries combine their holdings for local users, but it has also connected both libraries to WorldCat. With more than 3.3 billion holdings and more than 548 million title records, WorldCat is the world's largest bibliographic database, fed and maintained by thousands of libraries worldwide. Now that both libraries have registered their holdings in WorldCat, their resources are visible globally. And Wiener Neustadt library users can find and access additional resources from libraries worldwide. This connection is especially valuable for the students and teachers of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt.

“We were and still are enthusiastic about the service competence of OCLC,” Christoph said. The effort to bring the two libraries together was characterized by “perfect communication channels.” Although much of the collaboration took place during online meetings, “a family was born, and we grew together in the project,” he added. Christoph also sees the future cooperation with OCLC as “very long-term” and hopes that “OCLC will remain our business partner for a long time to come and that we will continue to develop together.” Moreover, he praised OCLC’s “truly exceptional” willingness to respond to customer wishes.

Libraries at a glance

• The library of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt supports one of the top educational institutions in Austria with more than 3,800 students, 350 employees, and approximately 1,330 lecturers.
• As the largest scientific library in southern Lower Austria, University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt maintains 40,000 print items, 20,000 e-journals, 12 databases, and audiovisual media for 37 courses and five departments.
• The Wiener Neustadt public library offers its users an extensive media stock of 36,781 copies, 52 journals, and 2,811 DVDs and CDs.