Welcome from your Global Council!

The OCLC Global Council represents the global library community as it comes together to be part of the governance of the worldwide OCLC cooperative. OCLC membership helps make it possible for member libraries around the world to build their own collections, to connect to their own communities, and to extend their reach beyond the walls of their institutions to local, regional, national, and international audiences. And, at the same time, by contributing to the OCLC cooperative, libraries help build capacity for other libraries around the world. This mutual benefit is why we continue to expand the diversity of the cooperative and grow the reach of membership.

As your elected leaders, the Global Council is called upon to reflect your views on the issues facing the community of members. Our focus is on helping new ideas grow and flourish through thoughtful consideration and examination since our future as information providers depends on our ability to cooperate with one another. We look forward to your participation in Global Council discussions that will enable us to continue to create the connections that transform communities by providing access to information.

Welcome from your Americas Regional Council!

It is an honor to be able to welcome OCLC members from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean as members of the Americas Regional Council. Our 32-member delegation serves to represent the fundamental values of cooperation and shared knowledge by working as part of a global team of elected delegates that reflect the voice of libraries worldwide. Our diversity is our strength, as our local, regional, and national perspectives come together in ARC to build collaboration and create a community with the shared purpose of advancing the mission of libraries.

As the Americas Regional Council elected delegates, we bring together decades of library experience, multiple perspectives, and an understanding of the cultural, economic, and geographic challenges in our region. We pride ourselves on surfacing new ideas, challenging old methods, finding solutions, and positioning the cooperative for continued success. We invite you to participate by contacting your delegates, voting in regional council elections, and attending meetings and conferences with OCLC representatives.

For the first time, we also invite you to participate in the first annual Americas Regional Council meeting. This meeting is open to all and will feature exciting speakers and new ideas and provide you with an opportunity to meet delegates directly. We look forward to serving you, to seeing you, and to being part of this vital community of libraries.

Welcome from your EMEA Regional Council

The EMEA region represents more than 70 countries in which libraries, museums and archives 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 members and member organizations, and this calls for a well-developed network and excellent communication among the membership. We are working to develop member engagement and we welcome your input, questions, comments and concerns. We represent members’ interests and provide informed opinions to OCLC about the direction of the library community. We strongly encourage you to help us advance the cooperative.

The EMEA Regional Council also invites libraries to join them during their annual event, which will take place, in Edinburgh on 20-21 February 2018

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. As your representatives, we invite institutions throughout New Zealand, Australia and Asia to become active participants in the global cooperative built for and by libraries.

The Asia Pacific Regional Council delegates invite you to join them in Tokyo on 29-30 November 2017 for their annual conference.