OCLC

DUBLIN, Ohio, February 3, 2012—OCLC WorldShare Management Services was recognized as “Outstanding Service of the Year” during the TechColumbus Innovation Awards ceremony at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on February 2. WorldShare Management Services was selected in a category of organizations with more than 250 employees, and from entries in a variety of disciplines and industries. More than 1,100 people attended the premier technology event in central Ohio.

OCLC has established a strategic partnership with Sustainable Collection Services, LLC, an organization founded by the principals of R2 Consulting, that leverages WorldCat Data to help libraries intelligently manage their print monograph collections.

Sustainable Collection Services (SCS) makes use of the WorldCat Search API to provide decision-support for collection assessment, deselection, and shared print projects. The firm's data-driven services enable carefully-managed drawdown of low-use print monographs while supporting resource sharing and print archiving efforts.

DUBLIN, Ohio, January 18, 2012—The University of Delaware Library has selected OCLC WorldShare Management Services as its Web-based cooperative library management system for metadata management, acquisitions, circulation, discovery, license management and workflow improvements. The University of Delaware Library is the first member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to join the OCLC WorldShare Management Services community.

DUBLIN, Ohio, January 16, 2012—OCLC has announced the launch of OCLC WorldShare License Manager, a new service to help libraries meet the increasing challenges and complexities of electronic resource management.

OCLC WorldShare License Manager offers a unique solution in that it brings together the two key features of electronic resource management—knowledge about licenses that govern their purchase and use, and linking technology that connects users to needed content in a single place.

DUBLIN, Ohio, January 13, 2012—Since July 1, 2011, 28 libraries have selected OCLC WorldShare Management Services, the first truly cooperative, Webscale management services for libraries that streamline cataloging, acquisitions, circulation, license management and workflows, and offer a next-gen discovery tool for library users. This brings the number of libraries worldwide committed to using OCLC WorldShare Management Services to 171.

DUBLIN, Ohio, January 9, 2012—OCLC is working with SkillSoft, a leading SaaS provider of e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government and education, to add records for the Books24x7 digital book catalog to WorldCat, the world’s most comprehensive database for discovery of library resources.

SkillSoft’s growing selection of over 30,000 titles in a variety of subject areas will be represented in WorldCat with a link to the Books24x7 platform.

OCLC, together with OCLC Global Council and members, is taking the cooperative’s ongoing strategy to help libraries operate and innovate at Webscale to a much broader level with the introduction of OCLC WorldShare, a new platform and a new brand that signals OCLC’s commitment to greater collaboration in library service delivery.

OCLC is launching the OCLC WorldShare Platform, which will enable library developers, partners and other organizations to create, configure and share a wide range of applications that deliver new functionality and value for libraries and their users.

OCLC has added more databases and signed agreements with leading publishers and other providers to add more content and collections to WorldCat Local, the OCLC discovery and delivery service that offers users integrated access to more than 865 million items.

WorldCat Local offers access to books, journals and databases in a variety of formats from a variety of publishers and content providers from around the world; the digital collections of groups like HathiTrust, OAIster and Google Books; open access materials; and the collective resources of libraries worldwide through WorldCat.

OCLC’s Geek the Library community awareness campaign, piloted in 2009 and 2010 and now available to all U.S. public libraries, has received an additional grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The supplementary $726,000 provides ongoing campaign materials and field support for libraries currently running the campaign, and allows OCLC to work with additional public libraries that sign up by March 31, 2012. Funding ensures that participating libraries can use the campaign to reach their local communities through June 2013.

Mohave Community College, in northwest Arizona, recently signed on and Ogeechee Technical College, in Statesboro, Georgia, is now “live” with OCLC Web-scale Management Services (WMS), the Web-based cooperative library management tools for metadata management, acquisitions, circulation, license management and workflow improvement. WorldCat Local, OCLC’s service for discovery, delivery and user self-service, is part of the WMS solution.