DUBLIN, Ohio, 25 June 2022—OCLC and ALA Core, the newest division of the American Library Association, are partnering to provide free access to OCLC's WorldShare Management Services sandbox, the test environment for the platform, that will allow Core members seeking professional development opportunities a chance to work hands-on with a cloud-based library management system.

The partnership was announced today during the Core President's Program at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

Formed through the merger of the Association for Library Cataloging and Technical Services (ALCTS), the Library Information Technology Association (LITA), and the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA), ALA Core members represent a broad group of library workers who engage with library systems in a variety of ways. Partnering with OCLC to provide members with access to a library system offers a unique learning opportunity, particularly for early career library workers, library workers seeking professional development in systems, and library administrators learning about systems.

"I am delighted to initiate this strategic partnership with OCLC. Access to library systems is a barrier, particularly for early career library workers. Together, Core and OCLC will address that barrier by providing not just access but also training. I believe this will be a powerful and meaningful benefit not only to Core members but to the profession broadly," said Lindsay Cronk, Core's 2021-2022 President.

WorldShare Management Services (WMS) is a cloud-based library services platform with WorldCat as its foundation, which allows library staff to draw on OCLC's shared data network and technology for more efficient workflows. WMS also enables staff to better manage resources in all formats and to provide their users with improved access to the library's collections and the world's knowledge.

The ALA Library has been a WMS user since 2015. OCLC has created a sandbox based on the ALA WMS subscription that will work from the ALA Library's collection and data.

"OCLC is proud to partner with ALA Core to provide this benefit to its membership," said Mary Sauer-Games, OCLC Vice President, Global Product Management. "This partnership offers Core members an opportunity to engage with a state-of-the-art library services platform as part of their professional development. We believe this will be of great value to Core members no matter where they are in their journey as library professionals."

More about WorldShare Management Services is on the OCLC website.