Welcome from your Global Council!

The OCLC Global Council represents libraries from all over the world. As your elected delegates, we represent and reflect the local, regional and global values of libraries as a part of the governance process of the OCLC cooperative. Our cooperative is 50+ years strong, and as members we understand our foundation is built on shared values and working together to extend the reach of libraries. We consider our cultural, economic and geographic differences as a strength. Sharing and cooperation are our tools for expanding and growing ideas.

Each year, the Global Council adopts a theme for focused consideration. This year’s theme, Change the Game: Libraries as drivers of transformation, will explore the different ways libraries are evolving and leading change within their communities. We urge you to join your Regional Council colleagues at one of this year’s three Conferences in Chicago, Illinois, USA, Bangkok, Thailand, or Marseille, France. These annual events have become essential for libraries seeking to explore, to embrace diversity, and to help transform lives.

Our strength is measured in our willingness to engage and build connections. We welcome your insights.

Welcome from your Americas Regional Council!

It is my honor and extreme privilege as the ARC Chair to welcome OCLC members from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean as members of the Americas Regional Council. The more than 10,000 members of the Americas Regional Council are served by 32 Global Council Delegates who reflect the richness of our cultures, heritage, history, languages, and scripts of our diverse communities. Our fundamental values are inspired by cooperation and sharing for creating and preserving both old and new knowledge. Our shared purpose is to advance the mission of our educational and cultural institutions by strengthening our communities of learners and explorers. Together we inspire solutions, recognize our challenges, and explore opportunities for advancing our institutions in the global ecosystem of knowledge sharing. We welcome you to take part in defining our libraries’ future successes with your participation, shared experiences, and innovative ideas throughout the year and especially at the ARC18 Conference in Chicago on 25–26 October 2018.

Welcome from your EMEA Regional Council

The EMEA region embraces diversity. Within the region are more than 60 countries, libraries, museums and archives, which all face many different challenges. Understanding and communicating this diversity is key to identifying regional priorities with regard to OCLC’s services and development of the global cooperative. The Executive Committee of the EMEA Regional Council aims to represent all OCLC member libraries, and this calls for a well-developed network and excellent communication among the membership.

OCLC members throughout EMEA elect 11 delegates to the Global Council. These delegates serve staggered three-year terms and represent various library types and territories. As delegates, we welcome your input, questions, comments and concerns in order to represent members’ interests and provide informed opinions to OCLC about the direction of the library community. The EMEA Regional Council also invites libraries to join them during their annual conference “Change the Game,” which will take place in Marseille, France on 26–27 February 2019. Please feel free to contact us to discuss regional issues or matters concerning the global cooperative.

Understanding the membership diversity is key to identifying regional priorities with regard to OCLC’s services and development of the global cooperative.

Welcome from your Asia Pacific Regional Council

The Asia Pacific region is unique and diverse. The richness of our cultures, heritage, languages and scripts are a challenge as well as an opportunity. Our region both contributes to and benefits from the growing collections of member institutions worldwide. OCLC’s global presence has been a valuable asset for libraries in our region. This initiative has provided access to resources for users, products and services that draw from OCLC’s advanced innovation and research. We would like to invite libraries from around the globe to continue to play an active role in the cooperative and raise your voice. We welcome your input, questions, comments and concerns in order to represent members’ interests and provide informed opinions to OCLC about the direction of the library community. We invite institutions throughout New Zealand, Australia and Asia to become active participants in the global cooperative by participating in our annual conference in Bangkok, Thailand, on 28-29 November 2018.