General News

OCLC Publishes 42nd Annual Report to the Membership

In the report, OCLC President and CEO Jay Jordan wrote that fiscal 2009 was a challenging year as libraries and OCLC felt the impact of the global recession.  At the same time, the cooperative continued to execute its strategy of building Web-scale services, setting the stage for an exciting transformation in the way libraries serve users.  Jordan noted that new services—WorldCat Local and Web-scale management services—promise to further reduce costs for libraries while providing an improved experience for library users.  In addition, a new governance structure is expanding participation in the cooperative and amplifying the voice of member institutions.  Eleven libraries and consortia are featured in the report, which is being mailed to OCLC member libraries and partners.  The report is also available online.

Cataloging and Metadata

Batch Processing Service Enhancements 

As part of a multi-phase effort to make Batch Processing easier to use and more efficient, additional enhancements have been made to the service.  Previous enhancements initiated ordering through the Online Service Center (OSC) and introduced automated processing of files as they are received.  In addition to WorldCat Local, automated processing and OSC ordering have been expanded to include projects that support Group catalog, WorldCat Navigator, and WorldCat Collection Analysis.  Automated processing and OSC ordering are now available for the following standard single institution projects:  one-time reclamation projects, one-time retrospective projects, cancel holdings projects, ongoing projects.  Local Holdings Record Updating service (LHRUS) projects are now ordered via the OSC.  OSC ordering for Batch Processing services projects is now globally available.  Now it’s easier than ever for libraries to maintain current and complete holdings in WorldCat.  Accurate, up-to-date holdings information enhances the use of many OCLC products and services including:

• WorldCat Local—Use local holdings data to qualify local searching by branch or collection and enrich record displays for serials with item-specific data.
  
  
• WorldCat.org—Web access to items available in libraries.
  
  
• WorldCat Resource Sharing—Better visibility and accuracy of shared resources to lending libraries and library users.
  
  
• WorldCat cataloging—Your library participates more fully in the worldwide library community.
  
  
• WorldCat Collection Analysis—A more complete view of the collection aids collection development decisions.

Additional enhancements to the service are planned and will be announced as they become available.  OCLC Batch Processing service uses advanced technology and expert analysis to build OCLC’s WorldCat database, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources.  In 2009, 49 million new records were added to WorldCat by the Batch Processing service.  Batch Processing takes catalog records from library local systems and integrates the information into WorldCat.  WorldCat connects local library catalogs, giving library users all over the world a portal to local, regional, national, and global library resources.  For more information, visit the OCLC webpage.

Western Swiss Network Agrees to Add 4.8 Million Records to WorldCat 

RERO, the Library Network of Western Switzerland, has agreed to contribute more than 4.8 million records for mainly French-, English-, and German-language materials to WorldCat, and OCLC will provide import capabilities for cooperative cataloging for RERO libraries along with increased visibility of the libraries' collections on the Web.  The agreement is effective January 1, 2010 and RERO records will be added in the first half of 2010.  The Library Network of Western Switzerland, RERO, an acronym of REseau ROmand, was established in 1985 under the auspices of the University Conference of Western Switzerland.  Today, RERO is a group of 215 university, heritage, special, and public libraries of the cantons Geneva, Vaud, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, Jura, and Valais, as well as of the libraries of Federal Institutions.  RERO maintains a union catalog of about 4.8 million records and 10 million holdings to serve some 50,000 students of the academic Universities of Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, and Neuchâtel, and the University of Applied Sciences, and about 250,000 library patrons.  All libraries are using the same ILS in a consortia architecture.  The network aims to share resources and competences, to develop joint projects, and to provide services to library members. The union catalog, the digital library and the metacatalog are successful results of this cooperation.  For more information, visit www.rero.ch.

Reference and Discovery

QuestionPoint and Mosio's Text a Librarian Announce Collaboration

OCLC and Mosio are working together to enable seamless integration of Mosio’s Text a Librarian text messaging reference software with OCLC’s QuestionPoint reference management service to provide a comprehensive virtual reference solution for libraries.  OCLC and Mosio are exploring solutions to the demands of a mobile world and the need for libraries to be able to communicate with their patrons online and on-the-go.   QuestionPoint’s reference management suite that includes email, online chat, and chat widgets combined with Mosio’s Web-based Text a Librarian service for text messaging would offer patrons more virtual reference options and provide libraries increased efficiencies in managing patron inquiries in a single place.  The integration of Text a Librarian with QuestionPoint services will begin with libraries based in the United States.  Text a Librarian is a mobile reference service technology developed specifically for libraries.  Built on Mosio’s award-winning mobile questions and answers platform, Text a Librarian enables libraries to reach more patrons on the go through their mobile phones. Visit Text a Librarian, for more information.

JSTOR Now Indexed in WorldCat.org

Authenticated scholars and researchers with online access to full-text content in JSTOR can now locate and connect to articles through WorldCat.org.  Over 4.5 million JSTOR article-level records from more than 1,000 journals, selected monographs, and other scholarly content are now indexed in WorldCat.org, the Web destination for discovery of materials in libraries worldwide.  JSTOR records are delivered in WorldCat.org search results.  Scholars and researchers using WorldCat.org can now identify content in JSTOR and connect to the full-text using the authorization provided by their library.  WorldCat.org is a Web destination with search and social networking features that allow information seekers to discover, localize, and personalize content from local collections and those of more than 10,000 WorldCat libraries worldwide.  WorldCat.org indexing of JSTOR metadata helps researchers easily identify resources in the collection alongside other materials relevant to their work.  An authorization is required for access to full-text materials in JSTOR.

RedLaser iPhone App and WorldCat Find Books in Local Libraries 

iPhone users can now download the RedLaser application to scan a barcode on a book and find that book in a nearby library using data from WorldCat, the world's largest online database of records representing items held in libraries.  RedLaser, developed by Occipital, of Boulder, Colorado, is a barcode scanning application and technology for the iPhone, available through the Apple App Store.  The RedLaser app, which is currently among the top 25 paid apps in the App Store, turns the iPhone camera into a barcode scanner.  For book barcodes, the app uses WorldCat APIs to deliver localized U.S. library results based on the user’s geolocation, providing library holdings, library location, contact, and map information.  WorldCat APIs are available to anyone interested in creating noncommercial mash-ups or mobile apps that include library data.  Commercial apps like RedLaser use the WorldCat Search API through a simple partnership agreement.  OCLC also offers several other mobile applications and access points to library information from WorldCat.  The WorldCat Mobile pilot app is available for download on a variety of Web-enabled phones in the U.K., U.S., Netherlands, Germany, France, and Canada at www.worldcat.org/mobile.  A version of the WorldCat Mobile pilot app is also available for use on all Android phones, including the Motorola Droid and the new Google Nexus One.

QuestionPoint Knowledge Bases Offered as a Web Service

QuestionPoint knowledge bases can now be accessed via other interfaces through the use of the web service search query and data record link.  Searches can be posted and limited by any of the parameters on the QuestionPoint Advanced Search page.  Search results can be rendered in xml or html for flexible implementation by various search engines.  Text and json formats are also output options.  With the addition of a few simple lines of code to your existing web-based search service, you and your patrons can search the Global Knowledge Base and/or your institution's local QuestionPoint knowledge base using a familiar interface.  Each question in the list of questions retrieved from a search is hot-linked to a specific KB record, which includes the answer and whatever additional data your library has elected to store there.  Any KB full record can also be retrieved directly, which enables you to populate, for example, a FAQ page on your library's website with answers from your local KB.

Announcing WorldCat Local Chat 

OCLC is pleased to announce that Chat functionality was implemented in the December 2009 install; available to institutions with Full WorldCat Local subscriptions.  Institutions that have a QuestionPoint Qwidget or other chat clients are now able to provide their users the opportunity to chat directly with a librarian from within WorldCat Local.  See download details.

Management Services and Systems

Work Continues on Development of Web-Scale Management Services

OCLC is working closely with a Library Advisory Council and four pilot library groups to continue development of OCLC Web-scale Management Services, a next-generation Web-based suite of library management services for metadata management, acquisitions, circulation, license management, and workflow.  Pilot participants include CPC (Craven, Pamlico, Carteret) Regional Libraries in North Carolina; Idaho Commission for Libraries, including Boundary County Public Library, Payette County Public Libraries, and the Cooperative Information Network (CIN); Orbis Cascade Alliance and Linfield College Libraries; and Pepperdine University Libraries.  These libraries are already testing circulation and patron management modules and will continue iterative testing and product feedback as new functionality becomes available.  The collective vision for Web-scale Management Services is to move services to the network or “cloud” whereby libraries use the same shared hardware, services, and data, rather than hosting hardware and software on behalf of individual libraries.  The cooperative nature of this project leverages the powerful ethos of library resource sharing—opening up opportunities for cooperative intelligence by making sharable data available to all users—a “network effect” not available when library management systems are simply hosted by another organization.  OCLC continues its work with the Library Advisory Council put in place to provide advice to OCLC on an overall direction, validate strategic positioning, and be a sounding board for new ideas not yet in the development plan for Web-scale Management Services.  Plans are in place to form a global advisory council in the coming months to address specific needs of libraries outside North America.

Content and Collections

NetLibrary eBooks Compatible with Popular eBook Readers 

OCLC NetLibrary, the leading provider of eContent solutions for libraries, currently offers more than 140,000 PDF titles that are compatible with the Barnes & Noble nook, Sony's Daily Edition, and other devices including all four Sony Digital Readers (PRS-300, 505, 600 and 700BC), as well as the COOL-ER.  Titles available in the NetLibrary catalog include current bestsellers, award-winners, and timeless classics, and cover subject categories ranging from fiction to business to personal growth and more.  OCLC NetLibrary uses the Adobe Content Server to provide offline eReader capability to library users.  Adobe Content Server is integrated with the OCLC NetLibrary platform to offer users seamless offline access to the library's existing NetLibrary collections, providing library users a single point of access to eBook content for online and offline use.  Users who have established a NetLibrary account can log in, download selected titles to their computers, and transfer them to supported devices using Adobe Digital Editions.  NetLibrary offers comprehensive collections in all core subject areas including humanities, physical sciences, technology, medicine, and literature.  Libraries can choose from tens of thousands of frontlist and best-selling trade titles; ready reference materials, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, and handbooks; and resources for students, teachers, and faculty.  NetLibrary also offers services and tools to help libraries streamline acquisitions, integrate eBooks into an integrated library system, and facilitate discovery of collections. Visit portable solutions available from OCLC NetLibrary, for more information and to view available collections.

A New Way to Access the OAIster Database 

OCLC is pleased to announce that a freely accessible site for searching only OAIster records is now available.  With this OAIster site,you are able to search only OAIster and its millions of metadata records.  OAIster records will continue to be indexed in WorldCat.org, and will be integrated in WorldCat.org search results along with records from thousands of libraries worldwide.  They will also be included in WorldCat Local and WorldCat Local “quick start” search results.  Additionally, they will continue to be available on the OCLC FirstSearch service to base package subscribers, providing another valuable access point for this rich database and a complement to other FirstSearch databases.  OAIster is a union catalog of digital resources hosted at the University of Michigan since 2002.  Launched with grant support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, OAIster was developed to test the feasibility of building a portal to open-archive collections using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).  In 2009, OCLC formed a partnership with the University of Michigan in order to provide continued access to open-archive collections through the OAIster database.  OAIster has grown to become one of the world’s largest aggregations of records pointing to open-archive collections with more than 23 million records contributed by over 1,100 organizations worldwide.

Go Portable:  NetLibrary Titles for eBook Readers, Laptops, iPods, More  

Provide your library users with content they can access anytime, anywhere, from a growing list of portable devices, including eBook readers, laptops, iPods, iPhones, and even mobile phones.  NetLibrary has more than 140,000 eBook titles that are downloadable to laptops, PCs, and a growing list of eBook readers including all four Sony Digital Readers (PRS-300, 505, 600, and 700BC), as well as the COOL-ER.  Soon NetLibrary expects to announce compatibility with even more eBook readers.  NetLibrary also offers more than 4,000 eAudiobook titles in MP3 format that are compatible with virtually all MP3 players, including Apple's iPods and iPhones.  NetLibrary's growing catalog includes a wide range of fiction, non-fiction, classic, academic, and award-winning titles from leading publishers including Recorded Books, Blackstone Audio, Listen and Live Audio, and Tantor Media.  You'll find time-tested classics such as Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, new releases including Wild Things by Dave Eggers, and much more.  For title lists and more information.

Thirty-Five New Publishers Add Multilingual Content to NetLibrary Collections 

OCLC's NetLibrary, the leading provider of eBooks and eAudiobooks to libraries worldwide, now offers more than 200,000 eBooks and over 13,000 eAudiobooks from more than 550 publishers in a variety of subject areas and disciplines.  NetLibrary's multilingual eBooks include reference, business, computer science, and information technology titles, best-selling fiction, and more from the world's leading publishers of scholarly, trade, STM, and reference eContent.  NetLibrary offers comprehensive collections in all core subject areas including humanities, physical sciences, technology, medicine, and literature.  Libraries can choose from tens of thousands of front-list and best-selling trade titles; ready reference materials including encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories and handbooks; and resources for students, teachers, and faculty.  NetLibrary also offers services and tools to help libraries streamline acquisitions, integrate eBooks into an integrated library system, and facilitate discovery of collections.  NetLibrary eAudiobooks integrate seamlessly with a library's existing NetLibrary eBook collections, providing library users with a single point of access.  Thousands of library users worldwide have already discovered how easy it is to download and transfer eAudiobooks through the NetLibrary Media Center, which provides fast downloads, automatic software updates, and support for a wide range of portable devices including the iPod and iPhone.  With a single click, the NetLibrary Media Center allows the user to checkout an eAudiobook, acquire the user license, and download the title to a PC or portable listening device.  With increasing worldwide demand for electronic content, NetLibrary continues to enhance and expand its catalog by partnering with preeminent publishers.  In recent months, NetLibrary has added content from the following publishers:  American Psychiatric Publishing; Ascendant Audio; Ashgate; Athabasca University; Audio Holdings, LLC; AVA Publishing; BBC Audiobooks America; Berkshire Publishing Group; Berrett-Koehler Publishers; Campus Verlag; Christianaudio; Dorling Kindersley; Dunod; Emereo; F+W Media; Grey House; Groupe Eyrolles; Guides de voyage Ulysse; Harvard University Press; High Bridge Audio; Hunter House Publishing; Linkgua; McGraw-Hill Education Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Methuen Drama; Naxos; Omnigraphics; Osprey Publishing; Presses de l’Universite du Quebec (PUQ); Reaktion Books; Rough Guides; Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain; Sellier European Law Publishers; Teacher Created Materials; The Institution of Engineering and Technology; WestED.  A complete list of NetLibrary publishers is available on the Web site.

Web and Data Services

WorldCat Basic API Available to Develop Library-Related Applications 

A new API is now available from OCLC that makes the world’s largest library catalog available to anyone and everyone in a programmatic way.  Called WorldCat Basic, this new API is being offered as a very simple interface into WorldCat.  Envisioned as a mashable access point for lightweight apps, WorldCat Basic API is available to anyone and everyone for noncommercial use.  It is expected to be of most interest to developers who may not have ties to the library community, but who want to include library and community-focused, green, and sustainable options for finding books and information.  The WorldCat Basic API lets a developer search WorldCat and receive results for items in libraries such as books, videos, music, and more.  It uses OpenSearch technology and returns feeds in Atom and RSS.  Results include information about authors, titles, ISBNs, and OCLC numbers.  Records will be returned in standard bibliographic citation formats such as APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, and Turabian.  The API will also provide links back to WorldCat.org for geographically-sorted library information.  The WorldCat Basic API should prove especially helpful for mobile developers, as now library results can easily be added to shopping and/or comparison apps.  In addition, there are six other Web Services available from OCLC: xISBN, xISSN, WorldCat Registry APIs, the OpenURL Gateway, WorldCat Identities, and the WorldCat Search API.  Ready-made WorldCat widgets are available for download from the WorldCat.org site.  Join the Developer Network listserv [WC-DEVNET-L] and sign up for WorldCat Affiliate updates to find out when additional new OCLC Web Services are available.  Commercial uses of the WorldCat Basic API are encouraged, although interested parties are required to contact the WorldCat Partnership team to arrange access.  OCLC Web Services continue to offer ways to connect people with knowledge through libraries, and for libraries to reap the benefits of library cooperation.  Gain access to the WorldCat Basic API from the WorldCat Affiliates site, where you will be assigned your own unique "wskey" to use the service.

Resource Sharing and Delivery

WorldCat Registry and Policies Directory Now Integrated

The OCLC Policies Directory is the repository of interlibrary loan policies for WorldCat Resource Sharing libraries.  The new, completely redesigned version of the Policies Directory released January 11, 2010 is now also integrated with the WorldCat Registry.  Information such as institution name, type, location, catalog, home page, lending URLs, and FEIN are shared between the Policies Directory and WorldCat Registry.  This means that a library need only update information in one place in the WorldCat Registry, and the changes will be reflected in the Policies Directory within an hour.  The Policies Directory is your source for detailed lending information that will help improve your chances of obtaining materials that you request.  You can review the lending and copying policies of other libraries participating in WorldCat Resource Sharing, as well as their billing, system, and contact information.  Use this information to choose potential lenders, publish your own policies in the Web-based Directory, and reduce the number of unfillable requests you receive.  The Policies Directory also allows you to deflect requests that you cannot fill so that they will bypass your library and reduce processing time.

ILLiad Version 8.0 Available 

OCLC and Atlas Systems have released version 8.0 of the ILLiad Resource Sharing Management software with significant enhancements to staff processing workflows.  This new version of ILLiad has been entirely rewritten to allow for a better overall staff user experience.  Client layouts allow unlimited customization of forms while a redesigned home page provides at-a-glance info about the state of your ILL operations.  The new ribbon user interface makes it easier to train staff on ILLiad processes while the new tabbed interface cuts down on form clutter and allows you to process multiple requests simultaneously.  ILLiad 8.0 is available to all ILLiad users at no additional charge.  However, ILLiad version 7.4 is a prerequisite for use of ILLiad 8.0.

Digital Collection Management

OCLC Releases New CONTENTdm Version 

OCLC is pleased to announce the release of CONTENTdm 5.2 with improved functionality and performance.  With the new release, the CONTENTdm Project Client now supports auto updates, enabling users to get updates as quickly as they are available.  It automatically checks for software updates in the background, so work is not interrupted.  If updates are available, they are downloaded but not installed until the organization is ready.  To better support text-based collections, PDF print quality can now be specified in the Project Client, enabling users to select a quality level when generating optional print versions of their compound objects.  For users with large, full-text collections, several enhancements improve performance and reduce indexing times.  Other enhancements include the addition of a new thesaurus, Canadian Subject Headings (CSH), and configuration options to filter hits in Usage Reports.  This new release is available to current CONTENTdm licensees at no additional charge.

Web Harvester and Connexion Digital Import Enhancements   

OCLC is pleased to announce that enhancements to both Web Harvester and Connexion digital import were recently released.  With Web Harvester, the new functionality allows you to select and deselect files to be included in or excluded from your harvest—giving you even more control over the Web content that you harvest and ingest.  Additionally, both Web Harvester and Connexion digital import ingest workflows have changed so that the items require Approval in CONTENTdm Administration.  This enables you to make metadata edits, via the Approve queue, prior to indexing.  It also aligns these workflows with standard CONTENTdm workflows.  What’s more, the enhancements fix a known issue of ingests to CONTENTdm from Web Harvester and Connexion digital import “freezing.”  The Web Harvester is an option for users of the CONTENTdm Hosting Services who want to add Web-based content, such as government documents, subject specific Web sites, or organizational Web sites, to their digital collections.  While Connexion digital import enables catalogers using the Connexion client to add digital items to CONTENTdm collections during the cataloging process.  By integrating digital collection creation with standard cataloging workflows, it offers another option to libraries seeking to expand participation in growing and maintaining their digital collections.  Learn more about Web Harvester.