MCLS Communique

DUBLIN, Ohio, February 14, 2012—The Website for Small Libraries project, which began as an OCLC Innovation Lab experiment in 2011, is now available as a beta service for any library wishing to set up its own website.

By participating in the project, libraries will be able to quickly and easily set up a website that provides basic functionality for making small collection information available on the Web, setting up users, checking materials in and out, placing holds, and providing library contact, location, service and event information.

“The goal of the Website for Small Libraries project was easily stated, but not so easily realized,” said Mike Teets, OCLC Vice President, Innovation. “We wanted small libraries with collections of 20,000 items or less to be able to have a simple, inexpensive yet functional presence on the Web.”

Four South Dakota libraries, as well as the South Dakota State Library, were part of the project’s pilot. “Many of our libraries have a staff of just one or two, and small budgets,” said Dan Siebersma, South Dakota State Librarian. “A product that makes it easy for these libraries to have a website with a minimum amount of effort and at a low cost is very desirable. The inventory feature that would allow people to access a library’s collection from the comfort of their home is the icing on the cake.”

In order to make the site as easy to use as possible, the site relies on simple editing of predefined templates to populate the Web presence. It can take just a few minutes to have a library site up and available to patrons on the Web as well as on mobile and tablet devices. The service uses a set of wizards to import collection and user information in a wide variety of formats. It uses statistical algorithms and WorldCat to determine structure and field contents to ease the import processes. Complexity is kept to a minimum by focusing on the minimum fields necessary to make collections accessible.

Tip House, Chief Architect, Global Infrastructure for OCLC, and one of the lead programmers on the project, explained the basic features: “Libraries can provide and promote basic information about their locations, content, events and services using a set of easily updated templates and widgets. Users can create an account, search for materials, place and delete holds, and see their history. It is, essentially, a very basic inventory model for libraries.”

Mr. Teets stressed that this is not a full-featured library management service, but an option for those small libraries that have not been able to take advantage of traditional library systems due to size, cost or technological restrictions.

“If a library already has an ILS, this will not replicate that kind of system. It’s not meant to,” said Mr. Teets. “Our research suggested that as many as half of the libraries with one or two employees had, essentially, no Web presence. This project hopes to positively impact those libraries and their users.”

“WebJunction has worked with small and rural libraries since its inception,” said Jennifer Peterson, WebJunction Community Manager. “Many of these libraries don’t have the time, money or technical background to implement a full-scale, online management service. This project will enable them to reach their users on the Web in an entirely new way. And because the sites are optimized to run well on mobile devices, they’ll be able to connect to users for whom the mobile Internet is now the main way of getting online.”

“We hope this is a useful, affordable option for small libraries that want to establish a Web-based connection to their communities,” said Mr. Teets.

Libraries interested in signing up can do so at http://beta.worldcat.org/lib/. Participation in the project costs $500 per year and comes with a 90-day trial period. Libraries are free to import and export their collection and patron data as they try the service, as well as through the product life.

State library organizations, consortia and other library groups interested in group rates should contact their OCLC Library Services consultant.

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.

The SCS service leverages WorldCat data, the largest aggregation of bibliographic data in the world, as a primary source for deselection metadata. Access to this data is enabled by the OCLC WorldShare Platform, which exposes OCLC’s Web services and data for use and reuse by third party partners.

This strategic partnership reflects OCLC’s commitment to provide broader access to the Platform environment and WorldCat data. Partners like SCS can take advantage of the same infrastructure that OCLC uses to build and maintain its own services, providing libraries with an extended range of application options that take advantage of the same core data.

The SCS service will complement current OCLC offerings to help libraries analyze their collections, joining WorldCat Collection Analysis and a wide range of reports that are currently available using the OCLC Stats.org tool.

“OCLC’s work with Sustainable Collection Services illustrates the value of building partnerships in service to libraries using the OCLC WorldShare Platform,” said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. “OCLC considers all types of partnerships that add value to the library community. Working with WorldCat, Sustainable Collection Services is better equipped to make the right recommendations for libraries and their lending partners.”

“WorldCat holdings data is central to a well-coordinated print management project,” notes Rick Lugg, President of SCS. “Responsible deselection relies on knowledge of the collective collection, and WorldCat is the single best source for that information. OCLC has been enormously helpful during our first year of operation, streamlining access to library holdings through its WorldCat API. Our strategic partnership builds on that foundation and broadens the scope of our collaboration, enabling SCS to develop an innovative collection analytics application. My partners and I at SCS look forward to exploring the full potential of the OCLC WorldShare Platform.”

Sustainable Collection Services was formed just over a year ago. In the first year of operation, it has worked with more than a dozen academic libraries and consortia across the country to consult on print management strategies, and to generate withdrawal and preservation candidate lists based on library-defined criteria.

About Sustainable Collection Services LLC:
Sustainable Collection Services (SCS) provides tools and advice to support data-driven deselection of monographs. Founded in January 2011 by Rick Lugg and Ruth Fischer of R2 Consulting, along with partners Andy Breeding and Eric Redman, SCS focuses on collection analytics. The company’s services enable libraries to analyze circulation and holdings data, and to generate actionable title lists for withdrawal, storage, preservation, and shared print archiving. (www.sustainablecollections.com)

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat.org on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit the OCLC website at www.oclc.org.

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 will also deploy data centers around the world in support of OCLC WorldShare and other services. The first data center outside the United States will be implemented this week in the United Kingdom. Additional data centers will be deployed in continental Europe, Australia and Canada in the coming year.

“OCLC’s mission and public purpose are clearly aligned with the concept of Webscale,” said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. “We have been providing infrastructure and services that have enabled members to build efficiencies in the management of libraries, and to increase the visibility and impact of their collections in compelling user environments on the Web. To date, this work has been significant. Now we see a need to provide more of those connective elements, the services and systems that will allow libraries to leverage even more of their activities and data together, at Webscale.”

The OCLC WorldShare Platform facilitates collaboration and app-sharing across the library community, so that libraries can combine library-built applications, partner-built applications and OCLC-built applications. This enables the benefits of each single solution to be shared broadly throughout the library community.

In the coming weeks, participants from platform pilot libraries will work with members of the OCLC Developer Network to help create and build new applications to populate the OCLC WorldShare App Gallery, where users will see available apps and can install them into current work environments. Developers can showcase their creativity, partners can create add-on functionality and library staff can find practical, everyday solutions to streamline and enhance their workflows.

The first services built on this new technical infrastructure are Webscale Management Services, which have been rebranded as OCLC WorldShare Management Services, and include circulation, acquisitions and license management applications. Today, more than 30 libraries are already using OCLC WorldShare Management Services, and more than 150 libraries worldwide have committed to the new service since September 2010.

Over time, OCLC will bring together additional OCLC services and applications under the OCLC WorldShare name, including resource sharing, consortial borrowing, metadata management and additional applications. OCLC’s currently deployed library management solutions will continue to be maintained and enhanced in line with libraries’ ongoing requirements under their current brand names.

WorldCat will continue to serve as the name for shared data, including registries and the knowledge base, as well as discovery services such as WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local.

There are many examples of organizations contributing to the broader Webscale information environment. Some, like HathiTrust, JSTOR and Europeana, are most recognizable to libraries and library users. Others, such as Google and Amazon, are global services familiar to all Web users. These services, and many others, are all part of the information environment users navigate every day—a Webscale environment.

OCLC is committed to working with libraries to expand the scope and type of partnerships that will be critical for libraries to achieve Webscale.

“OCLC WorldShare provides a Web-based platform for collective innovation across shared services, integrated applications and streamlined library workflows,” said Mr. Jordan. “In combination with WorldCat, OCLC WorldShare will support the work of libraries of all types to collaborate in new, more efficient ways, reduce operating costs and provide greatly enhanced user experiences.”

Visit the OCLC website at www.oclc.org for more details about OCLC WorldShare.