On Wednesday, October 7, I attended the OCLC Members Meeting in Washington DC. The meeting was an annual gathering of OCLC members in the Washington DC area, and Amy Deuink and I joined colleagues from George Washington, George Mason, American University and other Washington area institutions for an update on some of the recent changes in OCLC and a preview of some of their upcoming web scale services.
Pamela Bailey, Executive Director for OCLC US Service Center welcomed the group and gave an update on the changes in OCLC. She emphasized the improved support and training and highlighted the new Consultative Services Group. She previewed the the new training portal.
Irene Hoffman spoke briefly on the changes in the governance of OCLC - more regional councils, feeding into a global council and on to the board of trustees.
The day's keynote speaker was Michael Edson, Director Web and New Media Strategy at the Smithsonian Institution. His talk was excellent and extremely relevant on the Smithsonian's strategic plan and how that relates to their presence on the web.
Chris Martire, WorldCat Services, followed with two speakers: Kari Schmidt, Electronic Resources Librarian and Head of the Electronic Resources Management Unit at American University Library, and Oleg Kreymer, Systems Librarian for Thomas J. Watson Library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Oleg demonstrated their use of WorldCat QuickStart (http://libmma.worldcat.org/) and its configuration settings. Kari presented AU's work with WCL (http://americanuniversity.worldcat.org/), which they ran in test over the summer and are currently rolling out for student use in the fall semester. The primary difference between WCL and the quick start seems to be the ability to customize the look of the WCL interface, as well as it's consortial support.
Some of the issues Kari pointed out from AU's implementation:
- must have oclc number in catalog
- interface options - branding, when to show library services, location codes, etc
- released trial on web site asking for user feedback
- main goal was to get buy in from staff - had oclc rep come in to do presentation
- "find more logo" - developed by in-house graphic designer
- challenges in consortial set up
After lunch and a discussion/roundtable activity, Matt Goldner, Product & Technology Advocate at OCLC, talked about Web scale and progress on OCLC's new Web-scale management services. Matt talked about the roll out schedule and alpha and beta testing plans. OCLC's plan for their web scale services is very ambitious. It will be interesting to see how things develop.
It was enlightening to see what is happening at OCLC, as I'm really only familiar with the WCL services. The most valuable take away from the meeting however, came from discussions with developers and system librarians from other institutions. It's always helpful to hear about where they are in the discovery layer process and the vision they have for their institutions.
Pamela Bailey, Executive Director for OCLC US Service Center welcomed the group and gave an update on the changes in OCLC. She emphasized the improved support and training and highlighted the new Consultative Services Group. She previewed the the new training portal.
Irene Hoffman spoke briefly on the changes in the governance of OCLC - more regional councils, feeding into a global council and on to the board of trustees.
The day's keynote speaker was Michael Edson, Director Web and New Media Strategy at the Smithsonian Institution. His talk was excellent and extremely relevant on the Smithsonian's strategic plan and how that relates to their presence on the web.
- focusing on work that really matters
- the importance of catalyzing innovation and discovery outside the institution
- the changing learning model and how to make that work for the benefit of all.
Chris Martire, WorldCat Services, followed with two speakers: Kari Schmidt, Electronic Resources Librarian and Head of the Electronic Resources Management Unit at American University Library, and Oleg Kreymer, Systems Librarian for Thomas J. Watson Library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Oleg demonstrated their use of WorldCat QuickStart (http://libmma.worldcat.org/) and its configuration settings. Kari presented AU's work with WCL (http://americanuniversity.worldcat.org/), which they ran in test over the summer and are currently rolling out for student use in the fall semester. The primary difference between WCL and the quick start seems to be the ability to customize the look of the WCL interface, as well as it's consortial support.
Some of the issues Kari pointed out from AU's implementation:
- must have oclc number in catalog
- interface options - branding, when to show library services, location codes, etc
- released trial on web site asking for user feedback
- main goal was to get buy in from staff - had oclc rep come in to do presentation
- "find more logo" - developed by in-house graphic designer
- challenges in consortial set up
After lunch and a discussion/roundtable activity, Matt Goldner, Product & Technology Advocate at OCLC, talked about Web scale and progress on OCLC's new Web-scale management services. Matt talked about the roll out schedule and alpha and beta testing plans. OCLC's plan for their web scale services is very ambitious. It will be interesting to see how things develop.
It was enlightening to see what is happening at OCLC, as I'm really only familiar with the WCL services. The most valuable take away from the meeting however, came from discussions with developers and system librarians from other institutions. It's always helpful to hear about where they are in the discovery layer process and the vision they have for their institutions.
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