Publications
Full Reports list
OCLC Research Reports

Transforming Metadata into Linked Data to Improve Digital Collection Discoverability: A CONTENTdm Pilot Project
21 January 2021
Greta Bahnemann, Michael Carroll, Paul Clough, Mario Einaudi, Chatham Ewing, Jeff Mixter, Jason Roy, Holly Tomren, Bruce Washburn, Elliot Williams
This report shares the CONTENTdm Linked Data Pilot project findings. In this pilot project, OCLC and five partner institutions investigated methods for—and the feasibility of—transforming metadata into linked data to improve the discoverability and management of digitized cultural materials.

Transitioning to the Next Generation of Metadata
29 September 2020
Karen Smith-Yoshimura
This report synthesizes six years (2015-2020) of OCLC Research Library Partners Metadata Managers Focus Group discussions to trace how metadata services is transitioning into the “next generation of metadata” and its impact on future metadata services and staffing requirements.

Transitioning to the Next Generation of Metadata - Annotated Bibliography
29 September 2020
Karen Smith-Yoshimura
An annotated bibliography that provides details on blog posts from Hanging Together: The OCLC Research Blog referenced in the Transitioning to the Next Generation of Metadata report.

Social Interoperability in Research Support: Cross-campus Partnerships and the University Research Enterprise
20 August 2020
Rebecca Bryant, Annette Dortmund, Brian Lavoie
The report defines social interoperability and describes the network of campus units involved in major areas of university research support services. It concludes by offering recommendations for cultivating successful cross-campus relationships.

Archives and Special Collections Linked Data: Navigating between Notes and Nodes
21 July 2020
OCLC Research Archives and Special Collections Linked Data Review Group
This publication shares the findings from the Archives and Special Collections Linked Data Review Group, which explored key areas of concern and opportunities for archives and special collections in transitioning to a linked data environment.

Open Content Activities in Libraries: Same Direction, Different Trajectories — Findings from the 2018 OCLC Global Council Survey
1 July 2020
Titia van der Werf
This report synthesizes findings from the 2018-19 Global Council survey on current and future planned open content activities for a global cohort of research and university libraries.

Call to Action: Public Libraries and the Opioid Crisis
26 February 2020
Scott G. Allen, Larra Clark, Michele Coleman, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Chris Cyr, Kendra Morgan, Mercy Procaccini
OCLC has partnered with the Public Library Association (PLA) to issue Call to Action: Public Libraries and the Opioid Crisis, a report that offers strategies for public libraries to consider as they determine a local response to the nationwide opioid crisis. This is the culminating output from the IMLS-funded project Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities.

Responsible Operations: Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI in Libraries
8 December 2019
Thomas Padilla
Responsible Operations is intended to help chart library community engagement with data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) and was developed in partnership with an advisory group and a landscape group comprised of more than 70 librarians and professionals from universities, libraries, museums, archives, and other organizations.

Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities: Summary Report
29 October 2019
Scott G. Allen, Larra Clark, Michele Coleman, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Chris Cyr, Kendra Morgan, Mercy Procaccini
As the impact of the opioid epidemic is felt in communities across the US, public libraries are choosing to be part of the community response. With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and in partnership with the Public Library Association (PLA), OCLC is sharing knowledge and resources that will help public libraries and their community partners develop effective strategies to address the opioid epidemic in America.

Public Libraries Respond to the Opioid Crisis with Their Communities: Case Studies
28 October 2019
Scott G. Allen, Larra Clark, Michele Coleman, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Chris Cyr, Kendra Morgan, Mercy Procaccini
This report includes eight research-based case studies highlighting varying opioid response efforts across eight locations in the US. The report details each library's response, the partnerships formed, reactions of the community, outcomes of the efforts, as well as challenges, needs, and opportunities.

The US and Canadian Collective Print Book Collection: A 2019 Snapshot
26 September 2019
Brian Lavoie
In this position paper, Lavoie traces the contours of the US and Canadian collective print book collection—the collective print book holdings of all libraries in the US and Canada whose collections are registered in WorldCat. The paper examines the US/Canadian collective print book collection for insight and trends and includes a new rendering of the mega-regional map of US/Canadian Collective Print Book Collections.

Creating Library Linked Data with Wikibase: Lessons Learned from Project Passage
5 August 2019
Jean Godby, Karen Smith-Yoshimura, Bruce Washburn, Kalan Knudson Davis, Karen Detling, Christine Fernsebner Eslao, Steven Folsom, Xiaoli Li, Marc McGee, Karen Miller, Honor Moody, Craig Thomas, Holly Tomren
“Project Passage” is an OCLC Research Wikibase prototype that explores using linked data in library cataloging workflows. The report overviews the prototype’s development, its adaptation for library use, and eight librarians’ experiences with the editing interface to create metadata for resources.

Maple Leaves: Discovering Canada through the Published Record
21 May 2019
Brian Lavoie
OCLC Research identified 10.9 million Canadian publications using WorldCat and mapped this information with Wikidata to trace shifting cultural patterns over time. This report analyzes distinctive features of Canadian publications to examine the Canadian influence on the collective public record.

Practices and Patterns in Research Information Management: Findings from a Global Survey
3 December 2018
Rebecca Bryant, Anna Clements, Pablo de Castro, Joanne Cantrell, Annette Dortmund, Jan Fransen, Peggy Gallagher, Michele Mennielli
OCLC and eruoCRIS partnered to conduct an international survey of research information management (RIM) practices to examine the broad global RIM ecosystem. This report details the complexity of RIM practices and the growing need for improved system-to-system interoperability.

University Futures, Library Futures: Aligning library strategies with institutional directions
18 October 2018
Constance Malpas, Roger Schonfeld, Rona Stein, Lorcan Dempsey, Deanna Marcum
This report proposes a new library services framework for academic libraries in place of a collections model. This report studies the relationship between emerging library service paradigms and different university settings and surveys the importance of library service areas according to library directors.

Public Libraries: Marketing and Communications Landscape
20 June 2018
OCLC
In this report, OCLC shares results from a survey of US public libraries on how they communicate and actively engage with their community. Survey questions covered library marketing concerns and barriers, communication channels, and how libraries use email marketing and social media to increase community library awareness.

The Realities of Research Data Management Part Four: Sourcing and Scaling University RDM Services
26 April 2018
Rebecca Bryant, Brian Lavoie, Constance Malpas
This report series explores how research universities are managing research data throughout the research lifecycle. This fourth report in this series examines the sourcing and scaling choices made by four research universities in their acquisition of research data management (RDM) capacity.

From Awareness to Funding: Voter Perceptions and Support of Public Libraries in 2018
21 March 2018
OCLC, ALA
In 2018, OCLC, ALA, and PLA conducted research of US voter support of libraries to examine the awareness, attitudes, and underlying motivations among US voters for supporting library funding. This report outlines findings and compares it to a similar survey conducted in 2008.

An Exploration of the Irish Presence in the Published Record
20 February 2018
Brian Lavoie, Lorcan Dempsey
OCLC Research identified more than 1.6 million distinct Irish publications using library collections data in WorldCat and mapped this information with DBpedia to trace shifting cultural patterns over time. This report analyzes distinctive features of Irish publications to examine the Irish influence on the collective public record.

Descriptive Metadata for Web Archiving: Literature Review of User Needs
7 February 2018
Jessica Ventlet, Karen Stoll Farrell, Tammy Kim, Allison Jai O’Dell, Jackie Dooley
The OCLC Research Library Partnership Web Archiving Metadata Working Group (WAM) has created recommendations for descriptive metadata best practices for archived web content to meet end-user needs, enhance discovery, and improve metadata consistency. This literature review considers both end user and metadata practitioner needs for web archives.

Descriptive Metadata for Web Archiving: Recommendations of the OCLC Research Library Partnership Web Archiving Metadata Working Group
7 February 2018
Jackie Dooley, Kate Bowers
The OCLC Research Library Partnership Web Archiving Metadata Working Group (WAM) developed recommended practices for creating consistent metadata that addresses the unique characteristics of websites and collections for web archiving. These practices can be used by anyone who needs to describe web content.

Descriptive Metadata for Web Archiving: Review of Harvesting Tools
7 February 2018
Jackie Dooley, Mary Samouelian
In this report, the OCLC Research Library Partnership Web Archiving Metadata Working Group (WAM) reviews 11 web harvesting tools to determine their descriptive metadata functionalities.

The Realities of Research Data Management Part Three: Incentives for Building University RDM Services
4 January 2018
Rebecca Bryant, Brian Lavoie, Constance Malpas
The Realities of Research Data Management series explores the research data management (RDM) capacity acquisition incentives motivating research universities. The third report creates four categories of RDM capacity incentives: compliance, evolving scholarly norms, institutional strategy, and researcher demand.

Convenience and Compliance: Case Studies on Persistent Identifiers in European Research Information Management
7 December 2017
Rebecca Bryant, Annette Dortmund, Constance Malpas

The Many Faces of Digital Visitors and Residents: Facets of Online Engagement
21 November 2017
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Vanessa Kitzie, Erin M. Hood, William Harvey

Research and Learning Agenda for Archives, Special, and Distinctive Collections in Research Libraries
31 October 2017
Chela Scott Weber

Research Information Management: Defining RIM and the Library's Role
19 October 2017
Rebecca Bryant, Anna Clements, Carol Feltes, David Groenewegen, Simon Huggard, Holly Mercer, +

The Realities of Research Data Management Part Two: Scoping the University RDM Service Bundle
28 September 2017
Rebecca Bryant, Brian Lavoie, Constance Malpas

The Transformation of Academic Library Collecting: A Synthesis of the Harvard Library’s Hazen Memorial Symposium
2 August 2017
Constance Malpas, Merrilee Proffitt

Shifting Gears: Gearing Up to Get into the Flow, Second Edition
8 June 2017
Ricky Erway, Jennifer Schaffner, Merrilee Proffitt

Demystifying IT: A Framework for Shared Understanding between Archivists and IT Professionals
27 April 2017
Seth Shaw, Richard C. Adler, Jackie Dooley

The Realities of Research Data Management: A Tour of the Research Data Management (RDM) Service Space
30 March 2017
Rebecca Bryant, Brian Lavoie, Constance Malpas

Advancing the National Digital Platform: The State of Digitization in US Public and State Libraries
23 January 2017
Kendra Morgan, Merrilee Proffitt

Integrating the Library in the Life of the User: An Annotated Bibliography of Practical Ideas
23 June 2016
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Erin M. Hood

Strength in Numbers: The Research Libraries UK (RLUK) Collective Collection
2 June 2016
Constance Malpas, Brian Lavoie

Addressing the Challenges with Organizational Identifiers and ISNI
3 May 2016
Karen Smith-Yoshimura, Janifer Gatenby, Grace Agnew, +

Building Blocks: Laying the Foundation for a Research Data Management Program
13 April 2016
Ricky Erway, Laurence Horton, Amy Nurnberger, +

If You Build It, Will They Fund? Making Research Data Management Sustainable
7 January 2016
Ricky Erway, Amanda Rinehart

Shaping the Library to the Life of the User: Adapting, Empowering, Partnering, Engaging
16 December 2015
Merrilee Proffitt, Jim Michalko, Melissa Renspie

Common Ground: Exploring Compatibilities Between the Linked Data Models of the Library of Congress and OCLC
3 December 2015
Carol Jean Godby, Ray Denenberg

The Library in the Life of the User: Engaging with People Where They Live and Learn
9 November 2015
Lynn Silipigni Connaway

The Archival Advantage: Integrating Archival Expertise into Management of Born-digital Library Materials
7 July 2015
Jackie Dooley

Stewardship of the Evolving Scholarly Record: From the Invisible Hand to Conscious Coordination
29 June 2015
Brian Lavoie, Constance Malpas

Registering Researchers in Authority Files
27 October 2014
Karen Smith-Yoshimura, Micah Altman, Michael Conlon, Ana Lupe Cristán, Laura Dawson, Joanne Dunham, Thom Hickey, Daniel Hook, Wolfram Horstmann, rew MacEwan, Philip Schreur, Laura Smart, Melanie Wacker, Saskia Woutersen

Kiwis in the Collection: The New Zealand Presence in the Published Record
13 October 2014
Brian Lavoie

Agreement Elements for Outsourcing Transfer of Born Digital Content
14 August 2014
Ricky Erway, Ben Goldman, Matthew McKinley

Collection Directions: The Evolution of Library Collections and Collecting
8 July 2014
Lorcan Dempsey, Constance Malpas, Brian Lavoie

Reordering Ranganathan: Shifting User Behaviors, Shifting Priorities
30 June 2014
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ixchel Faniel

The Evolving Scholarly Record
5 June 2014
Brian Lavoie, Eric Childress, Ricky Erway, Ixchel Faniel, Constance Malpas, Jennifer Schaffner, +

Preservation Health Check: Monitoring Threats to Digital Repository Content
28 April 2014
Wouter Kool, Brian Lavoie, Titia van der Werf

Right-scaling Stewardship: A Multi-scale Perspective on Cooperative Print Management
25 March 2014
Constance Malpas, Brian Lavoie

Does Every Research Library Need a Digital Humanities Center?
6 February 2014
Jennifer Schaffner, Ricky Erway

Understanding the Collective Collection: Towards a System-wide Perspective on Library Print Collections
12 December 2013
Lorcan Dempsey, Brian Lavoie, Constance Malpas, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Roger C. Schonfeld, JD Shipengrover, +

Not Scotch, but Rum: The Scope and Diffusion of the Scottish Presence in the Published Record
17 September 2013