July 2003 ISSN: 0163- 898X No. 261
OCLC
Newsletter
DDC 22 arrives
Page 15
CONTENTdm
New life for special collections
University repositories
Page 7
OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
Format Number of Percentage Locations of
records of total items cataloged
Books 41,832,770 83.47% 812,887,080
Serials 2,512,284 5.01% 27,260,592
Visual
materials 1,619,259 3.23% 14,982,658
Maps 713,065 1.42% 3,560,598
Mixed
materials 326,087 0.65% 395,084
Sound
recordings 1,745,768 3.48% 19,645,439
Scores 1,172,199 2.34% 8,977,179
Computer
files 195,878 0.39% 960,522
Totals 50,117,310 100.00% 888,669,152
as of July 2003
July 2003, No. 261
The OCLC Newsletter ( ISSN: 0163- 898X) is published by OCLC Corporate
Marketing and is distributed at no charge. Its contents may be
reproduced in whole or part provided that credit is given. Send
questions, subscription and address/ contact updates to:
OCLC Newsletter, MC235
6565 Frantz Road
Dublin, Ohio 43017- 3395 USA
oclcnewsletter@ oclc. org
Editorial content by Brad Gauder, Phil Schieber and Tom Storey.
Layout and design by Linda Shepard.
All photos taken by Rich Skopin unless otherwise noted.
The OCLC Newsletter is also available on the OCLC Web site at:
< www. oclc. info/ news/ newsletter>. For more information on OCLC,
including contact information for OCLC offices and affiliated
partners, visit the OCLC Web site at: < www. oclc. org>.
All products and services named are trademarks or service marks of their
respective companies.
CatExpress, CatME, DDC, Dewey, Dewey Decimal Classification, Dublin
Core, OCLC Interlibrary Loan ( ILL) Service, netLibrary and WorldCat are
registered trademarks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
OCLC Access Suite, OCLC Connexion, OCLC Cooperative Online Resource
Catalog ( CORC), OCLC Passport, QuestionPoint and WebDewey are
trademarks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
About the cover
Using CONTENTdm Digital
Collection Management
Software, more institutions
are sharing their unique,
special collections online. This
colorized, digital composite
image features a U. S. Civil War
saddlebag from the Yakima
Memory project, a cooperative venture
between the Yakima Valley Regional Library
and the Yakima Valley Museum, both in
Washington state.
The OCLC Cooperative
Governing Members 8,711
Members 13,252
Participating libraries 45,402
Libraries outside the United States 9,306
FirstSearch libraries 20,871
Countries & territories served 84
WorldCat
Highest OCLC record number 52,774,652
Languages in WorldCat 458
Total OCLC Interlibrary Loan 128,176,785
service requests ( since 1979)
Total end user searches of WorldCat 140,743,168
on FirstSearch ( since 1991)
OCLC by the Numbers
OCLC, a nonprofit membership organization,
is engaged in computer library service and research
www. oclc. org
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003
Contents
Features Departments
4 CONTENTdm: New life
for special collections
Find out how The
Mountain West Digital
Library and other
institutions are using
CONTENTdm software
to digitize unique,
special collections and
to automatically add
records to WorldCat.
7 University repositories:
An extension of the library cooperative
To improve access to valuable research materials,
university libraries are amassing intellectual output
into searchable online collections and linking
to other university repositories using OCLC- built
software. Learn about repository projects now
underway at five leading research universities.
12 Interview with Herbert Van de Sompel:
Developing new protocols to support
and connect digital libraries
Dr. Herbert Van de Sompel, recipient of the 2003
Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library
and Information Technology, reflects on his
experience as a pioneer in the development of the
Open Archives Initiative ( OAI).
16 DDC 22 offers many updates to
Dewey users worldwide
In September 2003, OCLC will publish the 22nd
edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification ( DDC)
system. Joan S. Mitchell, Editor in Chief of the
DDC, explains what’s new and helpful in DDC 22,
the first edition to be published simultaneously in
print and Web formats.
21 Bringing virtual reference to library users in Canada
The growing move toward virtual reference service
has spread to Canada with the introduction of
Virtual Reference Canada ( VRC). Read how VRC
works with OCLC’s QuestionPoint service to meet
the reference needs of library users in Canada.
OCLC by the Numbers
2 From the President
24 Update
Finland is first DCMI affiliate
PAIS Archive database advance purchase offer
Check out the latest enhancements to OCLC
Connexion, FirstSearch
Enhance your eBook collection with new releases
A new edition of Using OCLC Connexion Browser
QuestionPoint fortifies libraries, says Online magazine
OCLC introduces Spanish and French FirstSearch listservs
The Ned R. McWherter Library, University of Memphis, enters
127 millionth request into OCLC ILL service
Connexion client to debut later in 2003
OCLC MARC record service now offers Getty vocabulary
Watch WorldCat grow!
Calculate your savings with ILL Fee management
Read how the University of Oklahoma is developing its
eBook collection
Report from May OCLC Members Council Meeting
WebJunction video now available
OCLC PICA purchases interlibrary loan system
Try WorldCat link from ProMotion’s bookpage
“ Handcrafted or mass produced: What are you willing to pay
and is it worth it?”
Mark your calendars for DC- 2003!
Remembering Hyman Kritzer, former Chairman of the OCLC
Board of Trustees
Attention library science faculty: Apply for an OCLC/ ALISE
research grant
Attend the 2003 Virtual Reference Desk
Conference in November
Hawaii State Library enters 128 millionth ILL request
OCLC announces no- charge access to FRBR algorithm
OCLC announces IFLA Fellows for 2004
Sign up for OCLC Abstracts
OCLC PICA leaders participate in LIBER annual conference
2 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
From Jay Jordan
Digital collections,
e- learning and libraries
Beginning in the 1970s, library catalogs started to
go online record by record, keystroke by keystroke.
Today, library collections themselves are starting to go
online, slowly but surely. At the same time, colleges
and universities and other organizations are starting to
build digital repositories for the intellectual output of
their institutions. Simultaneously, e- learning is moving
beyond distance education to enterprise- wide services
that support and extend the entire curricula and
related institutional services. Your OCLC cooperative is
involved in each of these endeavors.
Repositories
Universities have begun experimenting with
“ super” archives, or institutional repositories. These
institutions are inviting their professors to load copies
of their research papers, data sets and other works into
the repositories. The objective is to gather as much of
the intellectual output of an institution as possible in a
searchable online collection. Libraries are being asked
to lead these efforts.
Open Archives Initiative
Central to the development of the digital repositories
is the Open Archives Initiative ( OAI), which began
as a way to develop interoperability frameworks for
linking e- print archives and which has evolved to
increasing access to a range of digital materials by
sharing metadata. The OAI established a metadata
harvesting protocol that supports the interoperability
of digital repositories whether they are institutional or
discipline- or content- specific. An interview with one of
the leaders of OAI, Dr. Herbert Van de Sompel, appears
in this Newsletter.
A CONTENTdm image accessible from WorldCat in the
Alaska- Yukon- Pacific Exposition Collection, University
of Washington Libraries.
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 3
Jay Jordan
President and Chief Executive Officer
OCLC
OCLC is actively involved in the Open Archives Initiative.
Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President, OCLC Research,
serves on the OAI steering committee. OCLC research
scientists have developed two software applications
that provide an open systems framework for
repositories. OAICat supports the OAI protocol for data
storage, and OAIHarvester for harvesting. You can read
in this Newsletter how these applications are being
used in five emerging repositories.
At the same time, libraries have begun exploring ways
to generate and publish metadata for digitized special
collections such as archives and photo collections.
How will these collections within their distributed
repositories be accessible to knowledge seekers beyond
institutional walls? How will institutions bring to the
surface their unique objects that heretofore were below
the discovery horizon? We know the answer— metadata.
The increase in digitized collections creates new needs
to merge and share metadata from many different
sources. Sharing metadata, of course, strikes a
familiar chord for the OCLC cooperative— we’ve been
doing it since 1971 and in the process have created
WorldCat. While library metadata will continue to be
shared through large centralized databases such as
WorldCat for the foreseeable future, the Internet and
new protocols being designed for it are making it
much easier for institutions to search across multiple
databases and retrieve metadata that can link the
user directly to individual knowledge objects such as
photos, documents and video.
Linking special collections to WorldCat
OCLC has developed an exciting new tool that will
allow libraries and other institutions to automatically
add records of their unique digital collection materials
to WorldCat. It will harvest metadata from a digitized
CONTENTdm file and automatically add it to WorldCat.
CONTENTdm is software available from OCLC that
enables libraries to create metadata and post Web
exhibits of digital materials. You can license it for
your own server or use a hosted solution from an
OCLC server. There are now well over a million objects
residing on CONTENTdm servers in nearly 100 libraries.
In this Newsletter you can read how the new link from
CONTENTdm to WorldCat will enable libraries to expose
their unique resources for information seekers around
the world. Their special collections can now be shared
in new ways that were not possible before. For the first
time, library users will now have access to photographs,
images and objects in special collections in addition to
bibliographic information. WorldCat is indeed moving
beyond bibliography and closer to our long- held dream
of providing the information itself to users when and
where they want it.
E- learning task force
This year, OCLC formed a Task Force on E- Learning
to develop strategies that will enhance the ability of
libraries to serve the academic community in the e-learning
environment. The task force is composed of
11 librarians and faculty in instructional technology and
curriculum. They are assessing the current state of e-learning
on college campuses.
In September, the Task Force will issue a white paper
on e- learning strategies for libraries. This document
will help frame discussions as to what roles libraries
and the OCLC cooperative might play in e- learning, a
concept that today includes not only distance learning,
but more traditional courses that have incorporated
electronic elements into the traditional teaching and
learning process.
We face some exciting prospects in this new
environment of digital collections. Now is the time for
the OCLC cooperative to focus on needed standards
in metadata, interoperability, rights management and
preservation. Cooperation, of course, will be more
important than ever. Working together, we can help
change how people conduct research, scholarship and
education, and these changes will have far- reaching
benefits for humanity in the years to come.
4 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
CONTENTdm:
New life for special collections
Until last year, people had to visit the Special Collections
Department at the J. Willard Marriott Library to view the
Overland Trails and Diaries, the Frank Lloyd Wright Wasmuth
Portfolio or the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Today,
however, these unique special collections are traveling
around the state and the world into homes, offices,
dorm rooms— anywhere there is a computer and Internet
connection— thanks to librarians at the University of Utah.
New, digitized versions of the diaries, the Wright
portfolio and the Sanborn maps are now available
through the Mountain West Digital Library ( MWDL),
http:// www. lib. utah. edu/ digital/ mwdl/ an online library of
digital collections from universities, colleges, public
libraries, museums and historical societies in Utah.
Built by librarians using CONTENTdm Digital Collection
Management Software, the collections are accessed through
the MWDL Web site, which brings together 102,000
digitized items from more than 60 collections at
nine member institutions. In the future, metadata
with links to the collections also will reside in
WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog.
“ We are weaving the unique documents, images,
maps and other media items from each collection
into a rich fabric representative of the region’s
history,” says Kenning Arlitsch, Head of Digital
Technologies, University of Utah, one of the MWDL
consortium members.
The Mountain West Digital Library
Established by the Utah Academic Library Consortium in
January 2002, MWDL supports and coordinates digitization
efforts in Utah and Nevada. The goal is to provide digital
access and preservation for the unique special collections
found in libraries, museums, historical societies and other
archive groups.
Used by more than 100
libraries, this software is
bringing unique materials
online and into WorldCat
Images from three digital collections of the Indiana
Historical Society; Photography of James O. Fox: 1945– 1960;
Art of Mary Lyon Taylor; and Postcards of Indiana, The Jay
Small Collection. http:// www. indianahistory. org
by Tom Storey
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 5
Here’s how MWDL works. Four universities— the
University of Utah, Utah State University, Brigham
Young University and Southern Utah University— act
as hosting centers and run CONTENTdm servers to
maintain their own digital collections and to support
other organizations by providing scanning and hosting
services. A multisite aggregating server automatically
harvests metadata from the four host servers and
provides the search engine for users. The combined
collections are accessed through a single search
interface but the actual items reside and are served to
users from the four distributed sites.
“ We chose CONTENTdm because it provides the
essential elements for digital collection creation
and an architecture that supports large, distributed
collaborative projects,” says Mr. Arlitsch. “ It is a highly
flexible system that addressed our needs for capturing,
indexing, managing and displaying a wide variety of
materials, including images, text, audio and video.
We plan to expand this model to include additional
collections and organizations in order to grow this
resource of special collections materials.”
MWDL will soon expand beyond Utah. The University
of Nevada, Las Vegas and Reno will become part of this
online library by the end of September. Libraries in
Arizona and Idaho also have expressed interest.
The WorldCat link
The newest version of CONTENTdm enables libraries
and other institutions to automatically add records
of their unique digital collection materials to
WorldCat. With the WorldCat link, metadata harvested
automatically from CONTENTdm servers is converted to
MARC format, loaded into WorldCat and made available
to library users searching the OCLC FirstSearch service.
The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata
Harvesting Version 2.0 ( OAI- PMH v2), an emerging
standard for metadata harvesting across a network,
allows the CONTENTdm server to function as an OAI
repository, making a
collection’s metadata
available for harvesting.
“ This is another step in
our ongoing efforts to
transform WorldCat from
a bibliographic database
and online union catalog
to a globally networked
information resource of text, graphics, sound and
motion,” says Phyllis B. Spies, Vice President,
OCLC Worldwide Library Services. “ The automatic
harvesting of metadata for digital objects from
CONTENTdm servers will give searchers of WorldCat
access not only to the description of the digital
object, but links to the objects themselves.”
Institutions using CONTENTdm see the WorldCat
link as a means to getting more exposure for their
special collections and unique items of interest to
information seekers worldwide.
“ We have used CONTENTdm to put a large, diverse
and valuable set of digital collections online within
the University of Washington Libraries,” says Lizabeth
Wilson, Director of University Libraries, University
of Washington, and a member of the OCLC Board
of Trustees. “ The new WorldCat- CONTENTdm link is
very exciting because it provides global access to
our collections in the context of the leading library
information discovery system— WorldCat.”
OCLC is the exclusive distributor to libraries of
CONTENTdm, an easy- to- use software solution
that helps institutions organize a variety of digital
materials, including photographs, maps and historic
documents. Developed by the Center for Information
Systems Optimization Laboratory and University
Libraries at the University of Washington, CONTENTdm
was licensed to DiMeMa Inc. ( Digital Media
Management) in early 2001 to provide support for the
rapidly growing community of CONTENTdm users.
Image from the International Poster Collection, created by the
Colorado State University Libraries and the Department of Art.
http:// manta. colostate. edu/ posters/ index2. html
6 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
Visit these CONTENTdm collections
Digital Library of Appalachia
http:// www. aca- dla. org/ Members of
the Appalachian College Association
are contributing materials from their
archives and special collections to
capture and share electronically
the history and complexity of the
Appalachian culture. Photographs,
artwork, audio recordings, letters,
manuscripts, books, pamphlets
and images of realia comprise the
digital library.
International Poster Collection
http:// manta. colostate. edu/ posters
The International Poster Collection
holds poster entries from the
ninth through twelfth ( 1995- 2001)
Colorado International Invitational
Poster Exhibitions ( CIIPE).
Teaching with Digital Content
http:// images. library. uiuc. edu/ projects/
tdc/ Index. htm Funded by a grant
from the Institute of Museum and
Library Services, this collection is
part of a pilot program to integrate
digital primary source materials
into K- 12 curriculum, and into the
educational programs of museums
and libraries. The collection
currently contains images, posters,
documents, maps and stereo cards
on a variety of subjects including
World War II, Westward Expansion,
Farming and Abraham Lincoln.
Early Washington Maps
http:// www. wsulibs. wsu. edu/ holland/
masc/ xmaps. html Nearly 400 maps
offer rich insight to 300 years of
Pacific Northwest history in this
collection. Users may zoom in and
out of an image to view more
detail or work with a full resolution
version after downloading the
MrSID ® viewer.
Postcards of Cleveland
http:// www. clevelandmemory. org/
postcards/ A comprehensive
collection of Cleveland postcards,
numbering nearly 8,000 with
the earliest dating from 1898.
The collection belongs to Walter
Leedy, Professor of Medieval Art,
Architecture and Urbanism at
Cleveland State University.
Roslyn Black History
http:// epl. eburg. com/ Roslyn/
Through Open Eyes: 95 Years of
Black History in Roslyn, Washington,
a collection sponsored by the
Ellensburg Public Library and
supported by a grant from the
Washington Commission for
Humanities, chronicles the cultural
history of the former mining town of
Roslyn, Washington. This new
e- resource is part of the library’s
local history collection.
Images from the Overland Trails and
Diaries Collection and the Frank Llyod
Wright Wasmuth Portfolio, J. Willard
Marriott Library, University of Utah.
http:// www. lib. utah. edu/ digital/
overland. htm
http:// www. lib. utah. edu/ digital/ wright/
index. html
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 7
University repositories:
An extension of the library cooperative
As libraries are asked to create
super archives, OCLC provides
software and support
In 2001, a group of senior administrators at
Ohio State University approached Joseph J. Branin
about establishing a digital archive to advance
distance education.
While leading a task force on continuing education and
distance learning, the administrators discovered that
digitized objects needed to support e- learning were
part of a growing body of e- scholarship that should
be collected, integrated, organized and preserved for
university faculty and students.
Sounds like a job for the library, they concluded.
The OSU Knowledge Bank was born!
“ What is most important about our story is that
a group of senior administrators recognized the
need to manage the University’s digital assets and
acknowledged the library’s expertise and experience to
lead the effort,�� says Mr. Branin, Director of Libraries.
“ In essence, whether we work in library administration,
collection
management,
reference or
technical services,
we are now taking
on new roles
as knowledge
managers and
creating an
enterprise- wide knowledge management
system for the university.”
“ We will manage all types of information,
not just the structured, published information we
have traditionally been asked to collect, organize and
preserve in the past.”
Over the next year, Mr. Branin led a planning
committee with representatives from the offices of
information technology and academic affairs. Lorcan
Dempsey, Vice President, OCLC Research, also was
a member, as was Michael Dennis, an official from
the Chemical Abstracts Service. The committee
studied other repository efforts, inventoried digital
projects underway at the university, collected faculty
suggestions and input and developed an action plan.
Photo by Eugene Gilliom
“ a group of senior
administrators recognized the
need to manage the University’s
digital assets and acknowledged
the library’s expertise and
experience to lead the effort”
Photo from the Ohio State University
by Tom Storey
Located at the center of campus, the Ohio State University Main
Library will be the virtual hub of the university with the OSU
Knowledge Bank.
8 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
The OSU Knowledge Bank is gathering support and
funding and hired its first project director in July.
Several pilot projects supporting this interdisciplinary,
multimedia storehouse of knowledge capital will be
built by the end of August.
Ohio State University Knowledge Bank
http:// www. lib. ohio- state. edu/ KBinfo/
Scenarios similar to this have been playing out at
universities around the world as libraries seek to
manage the explosive growth of e- content created by
faculty and researchers. The idea behind repositories
is to maximize the impact of research by gathering the
intellectual output of a university into a searchable
online collection and linking it to other repositories.
The effort is part of a wider open archives initiative that
promotes interoperability among computer systems.
To support library efforts, OCLC developed OAICat and
OAIHarvester, two software applications that provide an
open systems framework for repositories by supporting
the Open Archives Initiative protocols for data storage
and harvesting.
“ This is an area where the OCLC membership believes
we have an opportunity to bring considerable value to
the library community through leadership, a platform
for collaboration and a range of supporting services,”
says Jeff Young, the Consulting Software Engineer in
OCLC Research who developed the software. “ WorldCat
could conceivably be an access point to the e- content
stored in archives.”
A number of universities are using the software in their
efforts. Following are reports from five of them.
Duke University and the
Sheet Music Consortium
http:// digital. library. ucla. edu/ sheetmusic/
In March 2003, Perkins Library at Duke University began
using OAICat software from OCLC Research as part of
its involvement in the Sheet Music Consortium ( SMC).
SMC is building a centralized repository of music scores
from the collections of its six member libraries at Duke
University, Brown University, Indiana University, Johns
Hopkins University, UCLA and the Library of Congress.
The OAI- compliant repository is hosted by UCLA and is
a gateway to the collections at each library.
Duke uses the OCLC open source software to make
descriptive metadata from 19,000 music score
records in a local database harvestable by UCLA.
Duke’s records are part of a special collection of 19th
and early 20th century American sheet music. Many
of the original sheets are digitized, allowing users
direct access to the music as well as covers and
advertisements that offer evidence of the cultural
context in which the songs were published.
Duke’s participation in SMC marks its first public
use of the Open Archives Initiative– Protocol
for Metadata Harvesting, or OAI- PMH, the
architecture on which OAICat is based.
After evaluating several OAI software packages,
Perkins Library selected OCLC’s OAICat because
of its highly portable, Java Web application framework
and because it is being used in a growing number of
digital library applications, including MIT’s DSpace
initiative.
“ The back and forth between Duke
and OCLC demonstrates the promise of
institutional cooperation on open-source
software projects.”
Image from the Duke Rare
Book, Manuscript and
Special Collections Library.
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 9
The Duke project team consists of Music Cataloger Lois
Schultz, Information Systems Manager Jim Matthews,
Research Content Development Head Paolo Mangiafico
and Metadata Architect/ Programmer Will Sexton.
Of particular importance to Mr. Sexton was the open
source nature of the OCLC software.
“ We found that the OAICat code did not process
database queries in a way that was compatible with our
sheet music database,” he says. “ An e- mail discussion
resulted in Jeff Young at OCLC altering the OAICat
source code to accommodate a user- defined processing
of data. I was then able to extend the code so that
it could handle results from the Perkins database,
and Jeff added the extension into the OAICat base
distribution, making it available for all of the project’s
users. The back- and- forth between Duke and OCLC
demonstrates the promise of institutional cooperation
on open- source software projects.”
OAICat at Virginia Tech
http:// imagebase. lib. vt. edu/
http:// www. hcibib. org/
As a graduate student supervised
by Dr. Edward A. Fox who heads the
Digital Library Research Laboratory
( DLRL) at Virginia Tech, Kunal
Garach has used OAICat to build
data providers for the Virginia Tech
ImageBase and the HCI Bibliography
( HCIBib) collections, which are compliant with the
protocols of the Open Archives Initiative. He has seen
the software package grow from its nascent stages into
a very useful tool.
“ OAICat supports many different implementations and
requires minimal customization compared to most
of the other tools available,” says Mr. Garach. “ Its
biggest advantages are its platform independence and
scalability. Since it has been implemented in Java,
all it requires to run is an application server, and its
scalability is undoubtedly the best I have seen.”
Mr. Garach’s first experience with OAICat was in 2002.
He and two other graduate students selected OAICat as
their development platform for a class assignment to
build a data provider for the Virginia Tech ImageBase
collection, a digital library of images. OAICat stood out
because it was the only tool implemented in Java— most
others were implemented in Perl, at the time— and
it supported the latest version of the protocol for
metadata harvesting ( PMH v2.0). As the first group to
officially use OAICat, they helped resolve a lot of bugs
and “ real world” issues that made the software more
flexible and robust.
Earlier this year, Mr. Garach used OAICat to build a
data provider for the HCIBib collection, a searchable
index of more than 20,000 bibliographic records
about Human- Computer Interaction resources. This
time he found that, in the true spirit of open source
software development, OAICat had been extended
with new functionality and now supported multiple
implementations, one of which was a file system
implementation that was exactly what he required.
“ Building the data provider for the HCIBib collection
was a breeze. OAICat required minimal intervention and
customization from my end.”
“ I have no doubts about the utility of OAICat because it
is very easy to customize and a lot is to be gained from
its simple structure and ease of use.”
DSpace at MIT
http:// dspace. org/
Introduced in November 2002, DSpace is a university
repository system designed to capture, store, index,
distribute and archive the massive amounts of
intellectual output created in digital form by faculty
and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology ( MIT). A joint project of MIT Libraries and
the Hewlett- Packard Company, the system provides a
flexible, open source storage and retrieval architecture
Kunal Garach
Photo provided by Kunal Grach
10 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
that can be adapted to a range of data formats and
research disciplines. Each research community uses a
customized portal that matches its practices to submit
items into DSpace.
The goal is to organize and share via the Web the
more than 10,000 pieces of scholarly digital content
produced each year by MIT researchers, most of which
is hidden from search engines and not included in
reference databases. The content includes books,
theses, articles, images, data sets, teaching material,
multimedia publications, visualizations, simulations
and other models. Since November, more than 2,000
items have been deposited into DSpace and the open
source code has been downloaded by more than 3,500
organizations and individuals worldwide, over ten
percent of which have contacted the DSpace team with
interest in deploying the system for their institutions.
“ In just a short time we have begun to see the fruits
of the open source process with several institutions
helping us debug and improve the system,” says
MacKenzie Smith, Associate Director for Technology,
MIT Libraries and DSpace Project Director. “ This is
sound progress, and we are all excited by the interest
and goodwill towards DSpace that we’re seeing.”
DSpace supports the Open Archives Initiative’s Protocol
for Metadata Harvesting. OAI support was implemented
using OCLC’s OAICat open source software, which
makes DSpace item records available for harvesting by
other OAI- compliant harvesters.
“ The availability of open source code like OCLC’s
OAICat is vital to the ability of the library community to
take advantage of new standards like OAI,” says Smith.
“ If each institution had to develop this code for itself
our progress would be much slower and many of these
standards and protocols would flounder. That’s the
whole premise of the DSpace system— we’ll get much
further, faster as a community working together.”
Adds Robert Tansley, Architect and Developer, HP Labs,
“ The OAICat software saved us a great deal of time and
effort in making the DSpace software OAI- compliant.
We were greatly impressed with the responsiveness and
helpfulness of Jeff Young, the developer at OCLC.”
The use of OCLC OAICat software
at Université Laval Library
http:// www. theses. ulaval. ca
http:// alcme. oclc. org/ ndltd/ index. html
The Université Laval Library, Quebec, Canada, is using
OAICat to build a preprint repository and an electronic
theses and dissertations ( ETD) collection.
The preprint system is scheduled to debut later this
year and will enable campus research centers and
academic departments to control which documents
they index and publish, and at what level— locally or on
the Internet. It also will allow researchers to enter and
modify metadata for their documents.
The system will use OAICat linked with MySQL, a
standardized computer language for requesting
information from a database. With the help of Jeff
Young, OCLC Consulting Software Engineer, Université
developers modified OAICat so that the software could
manage multiple entries in each element of the Dublin
Core metadata format.
Launched in November 2002, the ETD system supports
electronic submission and dissemination of theses and
dissertations published at the Université. To date, the
collection contains approximately 30 documents, most
of which have been entered since March.
For both projects, a librarian and a computer analyst
are involved. Pierre Lasou, Librarian, and Reda
Benjelloun, Digital Project Coordinator, are directing
the ETD project. Reda Benjelloun and Nicolas Bélisle,
Computer Analyst, are leading the preprint project.
“ To help us control costs and improve the accessibility
of Université resources, we want to conform to Open
Archives protocols and use existing tools rather
than develop our own architecture,” says Mr. Lasou.
“ Our electronic thesis and dissertation collection,
for example, is now being harvested by two service
providers, one of which is OCLC for the Networked
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 11
Digital Library of Electronic Theses and
Dissertations Union Catalog, which gives wider
visibility to our collection.
“ For now, we have two implementations of OAICat, but
we plan to integrate them into a single repository for
better management.”
Laval Library chose OAICat for three reasons, according
to Mr. Lasou. First, they believe that the involvement
of OCLC guarantees the integrity and quality of the
product. Second, OAICat was developed as an open
source project and is written in Java. This technology,
Mr. Lasou says, ensures the viability of the software
and its scalability by making it customizable. And third,
the support associated with the software is efficient,
quick and relevant.
The Archaeology Data Service
at the University of York
http:// ads. ahds. ac. uk/
The Archaeology Data Service ( ADS) at the University
of York has experimented with OAI repositories and
harvesters to integrate important research data on
archaeological exploration and fieldwork in ancient
coinage systems.
“ There is potential value of an open systems
environment that allows heritage agencies to share
data with various categories of users,” says William
Kilbride, User Services Manager. “ Information about
archaeological sites, monuments and objects is held by
many different organizations, such as museums, county
councils, national agencies, universities and archives.
“ These organizations share an enthusiasm for online
dissemination of data that often is offset by the issues
of bringing diverse data sets together, such as metadata
standards, communications protocols and semantic
interoperability. For some time now, ADS and partners
have been looking at how to overcome these issues.”
In one test, Keith Westcott, Curatorial Officer, ran into
some difficulties getting the OCLC OAICat program to
work with the Oracle database software used by ADS.
Different protocols and labels for date formats and
field identifiers needed to be resolved. He worked with
OCLC’s Jeff Young to sort out and revise the code.
In another project, Dr. Westcott encountered some
headaches in harvesting and transferring data. The
targeted repository failed to recognize ‘ from’ and
‘ until’ dates and therefore did not support selective
harvesting. To get any metadata, ADS had to harvest
it all, more than 50,000 records returned in batches of
500. Then, a small Java programme was written to store
the data in a database.
Nonetheless, Dr. Westcott and Dr. Kilbride consider the
trials a success and are optimistic about the future of
open source software.
“ The Open Archives Initiative supports custom
metadata standards but the data provider and
harvester simply need to agree on their schema,” Dr.
Kilbride says. “ Yet, if full advantage is to be taken of
OAI, it would be better for a wider agreement— and
deployment of a richer metadata schema specifically for
the cultural heritage sector.”
ADS collects, describes, catalogs, preserves and
provides user support for digital resources created from
archaeological research. It is working with national and
local archaeological agencies and research councils to
build and host an online catalog and research archive
of archaeological data, such as text reports, digitized
maps, aerial and site photographs and images of
excavated artifacts.
Photo from the Archaeology Data Service, University of York
12 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
Herbert Van de Sompel is the Team Leader of the Digital
Library Research and Prototyping Team at the Research
Library of Los Alamos National Laboratory ( LANL). The
2003 recipient of the Frederick G. Kilgour Award for
Research in Library and Information Technology, Dr. Van
de Sompel has played a major role in creating the Open
Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, the
OpenURL Framework for Context- Sensitive Services and
the SFX linking server. He is also a member of the OCLC
Research Advisory Committee. Herbert Van de Sompel
Biography http:// lib- www. lanl. gov/~ herbertv/.
What do you do at the Los Alamos Laboratories?
I lead the Digital Library Research and Prototyping
Team, a group of highly qualified individuals who
are well established in the digital library research
community. Our team explores architectures/ solutions
for next generation digital library services in the context
of the Los Alamos Research Library and beyond.
You recently won the Frederick G. Kilgour Award for
your work in linking technologies and metadata
harvesting. How important are these to libraries?
I think this work is significantly changing the nature
of library services. Probably the OpenURL/ SFX work
on linking is the one that currently has the highest
impact on libraries. There are quite a few academic
and research libraries across the world operating an
OpenURL- compliant linking server. Libraries now
have a say in the nature and target of links, and
users enjoy a consistent linking experience across
resources. Interestingly, the linking work is not very
well known in the digital library research arena. There,
the impact of metadata harvesting protocols is more
visible. Maybe that’s because metadata harvesting
has its origins in an effort to transform scholarly
publishing. Initially, libraries had little involvement in
those efforts as they were mostly initiated from within
a given research community. As libraries start taking
a more active role in that transformation, for example,
through institutional repositories, they will be adopting
a protocol to become part of a global, interoperable
network of scholarly repositories. So, eventually, the
impact of the OAI- PMH might become more profound.
What is the Open Archives Initiative ( OAI)? Can you talk
a little about the philosophy and driving force behind it?
Initially, OAI was about transforming scholarly
communication. The idea was to increase the impact of
communication through preprints by making repositories
interoperable. For example, if we could make it easier to
find preprints than electronic published papers, preprints
might become a viable ( and cheaper) alternative, which
would change the dynamics of scholarly publishing.
Later, mostly through the influence of the Digital Library
Federation ( DLF) and the Coalition for Networked
Information ( CNI), our work became more generic.
Preprint repositories were not the only islands on the
Web. So were digitized library collections. There was a
clear need for interoperability at the resource- discovery
level for all kinds of materials, not only for preprints.
Supported by DLF and CNI, Carl Lagoze, Senior Researcher,
Information Science Program, Cornell University and I
embarked on a mission to create a generic protocol for
metadata harvesting. The modus operandi is the creation
of simple, generic, high- quality, vetted specifications that
can enhance the experience of dealing with the networked
information environment we live in.
Interview: Herbert Van de Sompel
Developing new protocols
to support and connect
digital libraries
by Tom Storey
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 13
Interview: Herbert Van de Sompel
What do you see OAI accomplishing for libraries?
There are a zillion things libraries could do with the OAI
Protocol for Metadata Harvesting ( OAI- PMH) because
it is so generic. In Los Alamos, we use it for things as
diverse as a read- only Repository Access Protocol, as
a protocol to synchronize bibliographic data between
different components in our infrastructure, and as
a means to share digital library usage logs with our
research collaborators, Johan Bollen ( Old Dominion
University) and Luis Rocha ( LANL), who will be using
them for creation of a recommendation system. I
have been hoping that libraries would put pressure
on publishers to make their metadata harvestable via
the OAI- PMH. Unfortunately, so far, I haven’t seen a
lot of action. Not sure why that is. Probably academic
libraries are too busy worrying about integration with
educational systems.
How’s the reception been to OAI- PMH around the world?
Beyond what I had expected or hoped for. The protocol
is all over the place. Whichever meeting or conference
I attend, the OAI- PMH comes up. As Cliff Lynch,
Executive Director, CNI, mentioned, the protocol has
become a part of our information infrastructure. I feel
that the timeframe in which this has happened ( less
than 4 years) is quite surprising and impressive. It
is really difficult to give quantitative measures about
the adoption of the protocol because there is no
requirement to publish usage, and in many cases usage
actually occurs in an Intranet context. Recently, we
have seen an increasing interest in the protocol from
industry. Dot. coms and dot. nets that I had never heard
of are playing around with the OAI- PMH.
What were some of the challenges
in developing OAI and OAI- PMH?
With the OAI, things have been rather straightforward.
Initially, in 1999, my ideas to move to action in the
preprint realm were supported by Paul Ginsparg,
Professor of Physics and Computing and Information
Science, Cornell University; Rick Luce, Research
Library Director at Los Alamos National Laboratory;
Cliff Lynch; Don Waters, Program Officer, Scholarly
Communications, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation;
Deanna Marcum, Associate Librarian for Library
Services, Library of Congress; and Rick Johnson,
Enterprise Director, Scholarly Publishing and Academic
Resources Coalition ( SPARC). This support was crucial for
assembling a group of experts to discuss how to make
preprint repositories interoperable. In Michael Nelson,
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science,
Old Dominion University and Thomas Krichel, Assistant
Professor, Palmer School of Library and Information
Science, Long Island University, I found the perfect
partners to demonstrate a possible solution: metadata
harvesting. At the expert meeting, my connection with
Carl Lagoze was established. Initially our collaboration
was quite informal. Later, the DLF and CNI expressed
interest in generalizing the protocol, and generously
provided us with some funds. With that came the
creation of an advisory board, and Carl and I became
the OAI executives, leading the effort to deliver a
protocol. Things have been very smooth. The funding
expired at the end of 2002, and ever since then OAI has
faced organizational challenges that are well known to
anyone who has been involved in defining infrastructural
components.
Developing the OAI- PMH has not been a challenge
but rather great fun. It has probably been the best
experience in my professional life. Carl and I have been
able to assemble two generations of the OAI Technical
Committee with people who excelled through their
talents, insights and determination to get the job done.
If I would have to name a single challenge, it would
be remaining faithful to the fundamental principles of
sticking to scope and maintaining simplicity.
How much input from librarians went into OAI- PMH?
We had people on the OAI Technical Committee from
the Library of Congress, The California Digital Library,
the CERN library, the British Library, the Engineering
Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign
and OCLC. And we had some more people with library
backgrounds on the OAI Steering Committee.
How can OCLC help advance open access content systems?
I think OCLC can play a very important role through
the creation of tools that can easily be deployed in a
variety of institutional contexts, through educating its
constituency about the better kind of place we could
live in if they would collectively move to action to
14 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
Interview: Herbert Van de Sompel
initiate some real change in scholarly communication,
and through using their longstanding and valuable
experience in novel ways that help in making such
action successful.
How do you see OAI evolving? What are the future plans?
We have several pieces of work in thinking or in
the pipeline. An important one is an upcoming
collaboration with the JISC RoMEO project, in the
realm of expressing rights statements about metadata
and content in the OAI framework. We will soon set
up a new technical committee for that work. Another
effort that we have already done significant work
on is the so- called OAI Static Repository. It’s a file-based
solution to lower the barrier for people to share
metadata through the OAI- PMH; they don’t need to run
any special server, only put a file of a specified format
on a Web server. We also think about the creation of a
SOAP version of the OAI- PMH. And there is more great
stuff we have in mind. Just trust us and wire the money
so we can get going.
What other communities are working on linking
technologies, and how is the library community
connecting with them?
The problem that comes closest to the library’s
“ appropriate copy” problem is the one in e- commerce
whereby companies want to offer Web visitors a choice
of online vendors of their products, but instead of
providing that information themselves, they rely on
third party services to do so. Interestingly, in their
world, offering more choices is better than offering
the “ appropriate” choice. But it’s a similar thing, and
companies like Channel Intelligence are providing
services in that realm. I am not sure about what exactly
their solution is but I can see that it could be addressed
by using OpenURL and an OpenURL Resolver. Then
there’s Microsoft’s Smart Tags and related ideas that
have led to some helper applications that let a user
consult an authoritative database on a specific topic by
selecting a word, or by clicking links overlaid by those
applications. Again, this feels very similar to OpenURL
ideas. As far as I know the library community is the
first one to devise a standard in this realm of linking;
we seem to be leading the way. The hope is that other
communities will adopt the upcoming NISO OpenURL
Standard to address their linking needs; by all means,
the standard is written in such a generic manner that
they could.
Tim Berners- Lee, the father of the Web, describes the
next generation of the Web as the “ Semantic Web,”
when people create many programs that collect Web
content from diverse sources, process the information
and exchange the results with other programs.” How
close are we to the Semantic Web that Berners- Lee
describes?
Yes, and my American garage door talks to my Belgian
toaster, and they agree I am hungry. Great idea. I think
it will take long time to realize, and that we will go
through several generations of enabling technologies
before we find ones that are suitable to actually get
the job done. “ Suitable” in this case means both
powerful and simple. Like the technologies that led
to the emergence of the Web. Also, the Semantic
Web will probably happen very gradually, with some
sample implementations in niche areas illustrating the
capabilities, and by doing so, slowly convincing the
world at large. Quite a different deployment than the
Web itself. While I have become increasingly receptive
to the Semantic Web ideas in general, I remain puzzled
as to why it takes so long for a killer illustration to
emerge. My personal take on this is that too many
people feel uncomfortable with the technologies at
hand, or the lack thereof. While I keep hearing that RDF
is simple, I remain to be convinced that the technology
is straightforward. Also, maybe we are too focused
on seeing a garage- door/ toaster illustration of the
Semantic Web concepts. Probably we should settle
for an application that is less exotic, more useful and
hence more convincing.
To learn more:
Herbert Van de Sompel; Jeff Young, OCLC Consulting Software
Engineer; and Thom Hickey, OCLC Chief Scientist, wrote an
article entitled, “ Using the OAI- PMH... differently” for D- Lib
Magazine. You can read it at
http:// dlib. org/ dlib/ july03/ young/ 07young. html.
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 15
Team efforts keep
the DDC nimble
by Brad Gauder
How do you keep a system that’s nearly 130 years
old running smoothly? There’s a good answer where
the Dewey Decimal Classification ( DDC) system is
concerned: you work on it every day. Fortunately for
Dewey users, highly qualified teams of librarians are
entrusted with the daily work of keeping the DDC
updated and pertinent for the more than 200,000
libraries around the world that use it.
“ One of Dewey’s great strengths is that the system is
developed and maintained in a national bibliographic
agency, the Library of Congress,” says Joan S. Mitchell,
Editor in Chief of the DDC.
According to Ms. Mitchell, the Dewey editorial office
has been located in the Decimal Classification Division
of the Library of Congress ( LC) since 1923. “ Having the
editorial office within the Decimal Classification Division
enables the Dewey editors to detect trends in literature
that must be incorporated into the DDC,” she says.
Classification specialists assign over 110,000 DDC
numbers each year to records for works cataloged by
LC, a practice that began in 1930. They often bring
emerging topics to the attention of the Dewey editorial
team and suggest new index terms and clarifications to
existing records, notes Ms. Mitchell.
The Dewey editorial team, led by Ms. Mitchell, consists
of four assistant editors: Julianne Beall, Giles Martin,
Winton Matthews and Gregory New. Mr. Martin works
from OCLC’s Dublin, Ohio headquarters, while the rest
of the editorial staff work at LC in Washington, DC.
The Dewey editorial team works closely with the
Decimal Editorial Policy Committee ( EPC), a ten- member
international board of librarians whose main function
is to advise the editors and OCLC on matters relating
to changes, innovation and the general development
of the DDC to make it work better for library users.
These two groups meet formally twice per year— and
communicate regularly year- round— to plan the changes
needed to keep the DDC current.
Since the world’s body of knowledge never stops
changing, work on DDC 22 began as soon as DDC 21
was published in 1996. After seven years and the
application of several hundred thousand DDC numbers,
these teams— classification specialists, EPC members
and the Dewey editorial team— have now completed
their work on the first DDC edition of the 21st century.
Already, they are at work on the next edition.
Visit the Dewey Web site http:// www. oclc. org/ dewey
for more information.
Joan S. Mitchell, Editor in Chief,
Dewey Decimal Classification
and Libbie Crawford, Dewey
Marketing Manager, review
drafts of DDC 22 content. The
shelves behind them hold
copies of all 21 preceding
editions of the DDC, including
the first, which was published
by Melvil Dewey in 1876.
16 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
DDC 22 offers many updates
to Dewey users worldwide
By Joan S. Mitchell, Editor in Chief, Dewey Decimal Classification
In September 2003, OCLC will publish Dewey Decimal Classification, Edition
22 ( DDC 22), the new full edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification.
WebDewey subscribers have had access to the electronic version of the new
edition since mid- June 2003.
DDC 22 contains several major updates, many new numbers and topics,
and a few structural changes. There is one important difference between
DDC 22 and other recent editions: DDC 22 contains no complete
or extensive revisions. In other words, several new
developments have been added and many
classes have been revised and
expanded, but no schedule has
been changed so fundamentally
that a complete reordering has
resulted— good news for Dewey
users! Here’s a detailed look at
what Dewey users around the world
will find in the new edition.
Throughout DDC 22, there are many
new numbers for a wide variety of
topics. These range from new geographic
provisions, e. g., the updating of
administrative regions in Quebec, to new
numbers throughout the DDC for emerging
topics beyond the updates mentioned above.
Examples include 302.231 Digital media,
381.177 Online auctions, 394.2612 Kwanzaa,
523.24 Extrasolar systems, 621.38807 Digital
television, 641.8236 Chili, 651.792 Intranets and
658.3123 Telecommuting. DDC 22 also includes a
new number for digital photography at 775, and a
new number and subdivisions for computer art at 776.
Many new built number entries and additional terms
have been added to the Relative Index to cover sought
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 17
topics and provide a wide
base of entry vocabulary.
Structural changes
DDC 22 also features several structural changes: the
removal of Table 7, the streamlining of the Manual and
the updating of selected captions. Table 7 has been
replaced with direct use of notation already available in
the schedules and in notation 08 from Table 1. We have
streamlined the Manual with an eye toward classifier
efficiency. Information easily accommodated in notes
in the tables and schedules has been transferred from
the Manual, and redundant information already in the
schedules and tables has been eliminated from the
Manual. We have converted the Library of Congress
Decimal Classification Division application policies
previously described in the Manual into standard DDC
practice. We have moved basic instructions on the use
of the Dewey Decimal Classification to the Introduction,
and background information to Dewey Decimal
Classification: Principles and Application, a forthcoming
publication that will offer in- depth advice on how to
apply the DDC and build class numbers ( available
later in 2003). We have revised the remaining
Manual entries in a consistent style to promote quick
understanding and efficient use. The Manual can be
found in a new location in DDC 22— in volume one,
directly preceding Table 1.
We have taken the opportunity of the new edition to
update many captions in the DDC Summaries, and
some in the DDC schedules themselves. Examples
of the latter include the change in the caption for
class 000 from “ Generalities” to “ Computer science,
information, general works”; and the change in the
caption for class 640 from �� Home economics and family
living” to “ Home and family management.”
DDC 22 and WebDewey
The new print edition is a snapshot in time of the
Dewey Decimal Classification. We deliver regular
updates to our users in a variety of ways. Every
other week, we use the Dewey Web site to distribute
mappings between new Library of Congress Subject
Headings ( LCSH) and Dewey numbers. Each month, we
announce selected new and changed DDC entries on
the Dewey Web site. Our chief vehicle for distributing
updates to our users is WebDewey.
WebDewey is a Web- based version of the enhanced
DDC 22 database and features thousands of Relative
Index terms and built numbers not available in the
DDC print version; mappings between LCSH and DDC
produced by the Dewey editors and statistically derived
from records in WorldCat ( the OCLC Online Union
Catalog); selected mappings between Medical Subject
Headings ( MeSH) and DDC; links from mapped LCSH
to the LCSH authority records; and quarterly database
updates incorporating the latest changes to the DDC,
plus new LCSH and MeSH mappings, index terms and
built numbers.
The June 2003 release of WebDewey includes all the
content in the new DDC 22, plus additional content
available only in the electronic version and several
interface improvements. Details are available at
We have updated 004- 006
have emerged in the last seven
general- purpose application programs at
005.5, to which many programs formerly
found in 005.3 plus word processing
from 652.5 have been relocated.
In DDC 22, we have
completed the two- edition plan
that was initiated in DDC 21 to reduce
Christian bias in the 200 Religion schedule.
We have moved specific aspects of religion from
291 to the 201– 209 span vacated in DDC 21. These
numbers are now used for general topics in religion, and
as the source for notation to address specific aspects
of religions in 292– 299. DDC 22 also includes an
expansion for sources of the Bahai Faith at 297.938,
and revised and expanded developments in 299.6
for religions originating among Black Africans
and people of Black African descent, and
in 299.7–. 8 for religions of American
native origin.
Religion 200
Major updates
in DDC 22
18 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
several improvements to
of nations, human rights
and intergovernmental
organizations.
Law 340
www. oclc. org/ dewey/ news/ Edition22_ in_ WebDewey. htm.
We have added some content to the new release of
WebDewey that previously was available only in the
print edition. Flow charts and the optional schedule
for Tanakh ( both formerly available only in the print
edition) now appear in the database. “ Relocations,
Discontinuations, and Reused Numbers,” a table
of changed numbers in DDC 22, is available as a
downloadable Microsoft Excel file in WebDewey, and on
the Dewey Web site at www. oclc. org/ dewey/ DDC_ Edition_
22/ Relocations_ and_ discontinuations. pdf.
“ New Features In Edition 22,” a summary of the
important updates and additions in DDC 22, is
available in WebDewey and on the Dewey Web site at
www. oclc. org/ dewey/ DDC_ Edition_ 22/ NEW_ FEATURES. pdf.
Influence of Dewey users
around the world
The Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee
( EPC) is a ten- member international advisory board
whose main function is to advise the editors and
OCLC on matters relating to changes, innovations and
the general development of the Classification. EPC
represents the interests of DDC users; its members
come from national, public, special and academic
libraries, and from library schools. Current members
hail from Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the
United States. Every change in the schedules and
tables has been reviewed by EPC on behalf of Dewey
users around the world— 62 national bibliographies and
200,000 libraries in 135 countries. Libraries of every
type apply Dewey numbers on a daily basis and share
these numbers through a variety of means ( including
WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog).
Translations of the most recent Dewey editions are
completed, underway or planned in Arabic, Chinese,
French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian,
Korean, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
A team headed by Die Deutsche Bibliothek has already
begun work on the first translation of DDC 22. The
German translation will be the first Dewey translation to
appear simultaneously in Web and print versions. DDC
22 has benefited from the ongoing advice of Dewey
translation teams and national library partners. These
groups, along with EPC, provide a diverse outlook that
is reflected in updates to schedules and terminology
throughout DDC 22.
In preparation for DDC 22, OCLC commissioned a
survey of Dewey users. Dewey users also played a key
part in reviewing drafts of several major updates, and
participated in testing new developments. Committees
We targeted the
schedule for social groups
and cultural institutions as a
high priority for updating in DDC 22. We
have consolidated the many near duplicate
provisions for groups and institutions, and
updated terminology and relationships
throughout 305– 306.
Social groups and cultural
institutions 305- 306
DDC 22 includes
a substantial update to 510
Mathematics. The most visible
change in the 510 schedule is the use
of 518— a number that had not been in
standard use in Dewey since the 1950s— for
a new development for numerical analysis
drawn from different parts of 510.
Mathematics 510
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 19
Tables
Discrimination or racism in relation to a topic is
now expressed through use of notation 08 from
Table 1 applied to the interdisciplinary number for
the topic. Table 2 features updated geographic
provisions developed with the advice of national
libraries and translation partners. Notation 3
from Table 3C has been revised to provide a
better arrangement that more closely parallels
the grouping of the topics in the DDC schedules
themselves. We have changed the name of
Table 5 from “ Racial, Ethnic, National Groups”
to “ Ethnic and National Groups” and revised
the development for races at the beginning of
the table to reflect the de- emphasis on race in
current scholarship. Table 5 includes expanded
provisions for American native peoples, and Table
6 includes the corresponding expansions for
American native languages.
In 540 Chemistry,
we have introduced a
completely new development for
specific topics in analytical chemistry
( including both inorganic and organic
of 543. The new development in 543.1–. 8
brings together material that was developed
elsewhere in 543, and in 544 Qualitative
analysis, 545 Quantitative analysis and
547.3 Analytical organic chemistry.
Classes 544 and 545 have been
vacated entirely in DDC 22.
Chemistry 540
In medicine, we
have focused on updating
and expanding the 610 schedule
with minor changes to the structure itself.
Class 610 itself features a new caption,
sciences Medicine.” We have also improved
indexing for medical topics, and the electronic
version of the schedule in WebDewey includes
selected mappings between Medical
Subject Headings ( MeSH) and DDC.
Medicine and health 610
In DDC 22,
we have relocated
interdisciplinary and descriptive
works on facilities for travelers from
647.94 to 910.46 and to specific area numbers
in 913– 919. In cooperation with national
libraries and translation partners, we have
updated historical periods throughout
930– 990. DDC 22 also includes an
important new expansion for the
Holocaust at 940.5318.
History and geography 900
appointed by the American Library
Association ( ALA) Subject Analysis Committee
and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals ( CILIP) Dewey Decimal Classification
Committee reviewed several draft schedules. We also
solicited reviewers and testers via our Web site, and
received comments from subject experts and librarians
in Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, United Kingdom and
the United States. The Dewey editors are especially
fortunate to have the ongoing advice of colleagues at
the Library of Congress. The Dewey editorial office is
located in the Decimal Classification Division of the
Library of Congress, where classification specialists
annually assign over 110,000 DDC numbers to records
for works cataloged by the Library.
The Dewey Decimal Classification system is 127 years
young. Use of the system now ranges from a tool for
the physical arrangement of library collections to new
applications as a multilingual switching language,
sorting device for search results, and a searching and
browsing tool on the Web. We will continue to improve
the DDC to meet current and emerging knowledge
organization needs.
20 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
By Brad Gauder
Some 45 library and information science educators
took the opportunity to spend two days at OCLC’s
Dublin, Ohio headquarters in May to learn more about
the changes coming in the 22nd edition of the Dewey
Decimal Classification ( DDC) system. During their visit,
they also received updates on OCLC products and
research projects that relate to the DDC.
The workshop opened with a welcome from OCLC
President and CEO, Jay Jordan, who explained the goals
of the workshop to attendees. “ You will learn about
changes to the DDC that make the work of classifying
library materials easier and therefore, more productive,
whether you classify using the print or Web version of
the DDC,” he remarked.
Mr. Jordan’s welcome was followed by presentations on
key aspects of DDC 22. These presentations included a
detailed overview and updates on the topics of religion,
social groups, computer science and mathematics.
The Dewey educators workshop held at OCLC headquarters in May included
a number of interactive sessions to help participants prepare to introduce
DDC 22 into their curricula. Through OCLC’s LIS program, participating
library schools receive complimentary access to WebDewey.
< http:// lis. oclc. org/ partnership/ services. htm>
Dewey educators get an
early look at DDC 22
The afternoon session opened with presentations
from leaders of the Decimal Editorial Policy Committee
( EPC). Andrea Stamm, of Northwestern University and
EPC Chair, discussed the role of the EPC, followed
by EPC Vice- Chair Lucy Evans, of The British Library,
who presented a British perspective on the DDC. ( For
more information on the EPC’s role with ongoing
development of the DDC, see the related articles in this
issue of the OCLC Newsletter.)
Another afternoon session provided
hands- on examples to help attendees
grasp the changes that DDC 22 brings to
knowledge organization for Dewey libraries.
In addition, three attendees— Lois Mai
Chan, University of Kentucky; Patricia
Oyler, Simmons College; and Arlene Taylor,
University of Pittsburgh— led a panel
discussion on teaching methods.
The second day of the workshop focused
on OCLC products, services, research
efforts and programs that support the
DDC. “ Working with the various editions
of the DDC has provided OCLC researchers
with many opportunities to explore new ways of
representing, assigning and viewing classification
data,” says Diane- Vizine Goetz, Consulting Research
Scientist, OCLC Office of Research.
Libbie Crawford, Marketing Manager for Dewey
products, updated attendees on the OCLC Library &
Information Science ( LIS) Education program. “ It’s
important for Dewey educators to understand how
OCLC’s efforts to enhance LIS education complement
their work of preparing future generations of library
leaders,” she says. “ We share many of the same goals,
and we want our Dewey educators to know they can
turn to OCLC for educational resources.”
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 21
Bringing virtual reference to
library users in Canada
By Brad Gauder
Editor’s note: This article is adapted from a report
that ran in the Summer 2003 edition of the OCLC
Canada Newsletter.
Information providers across Canada now have greatly
enhanced access to reference information, thanks to
the recent introduction of a virtual reference service
called Virtual Reference Canada ( VRC). The new
service, hosted by the Library and Archives Canada
( L& AC), complements OCLC’s QuestionPoint service
in delivering a robust online reference experience for
information providers and library users alike.
Three years ago, the Library of Congress ( LC) initiated
a pilot program from which QuestionPoint eventually
developed. In partnership with 16 libraries around the
world— including the Library and Archives of Canada
( formerly the National Library of Canada)— LC developed
what became known as the Cooperative Digital
Reference Service ( CDRS) pilot. The pilot program
aimed to establish methodologies and systems for
implementing a collaborative 24/ 7 reference service for
libraries working together to serve diverse library user
populations around the world.
The CDRS pilot expanded to involve more than 300
libraries of various types in the U. S., Canada, the United
Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Canadian participants
included the L& AC, Vancouver Public Library, Burnaby
Public Library, the University of Calgary, Toronto Public
Library and Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical
Information ( CISTI).
Early in 2001, OCLC and LC signed an agreement to
develop— in continuing consultation with reference
librarians— a reference management system and service
built on library collaboration and experiences from the
CDRS pilot. The service was to make use of a database
The Virtual Reference Canada service enables library staff to broadcast reference questions to participating libraries.
Photo provided by Nicolas Savard, National Library of Canada
22 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
of library profiles and a best- match routing algorithm to
enable automated question referral among the world’s
libraries. QuestionPoint, introduced in June 2002, grew
directly out of this collaborative work.
By the end of 2002, over 300 libraries ( 40% of which
were outside the U. S., including the L& AC) were actively
using QuestionPoint. The University of Montreal and
the Centre régional des services aux bibliothèques
publiques de la Montérégie became the first two
Canadian sites after the L& AC to subscribe to the
enhanced version of QuestionPoint and join the Global
Reference Network.
��� To have two French Canadian institutions going
ahead with implementing the enhanced version of
QuestionPoint before it became
completely available in French is
quite remarkable,” says Daniel
Boivin, Director of OCLC Canada.
“ The rapid adoption of the service
indicates that more and more libraries are ready to
move to this next level of service for their
respective communities.”
Seeing a void in the availability of networked
electronic reference services available equally in
both of Canada’s official languages at the time of the
CDRS project, and recognizing the CDRS model as a
starting point, the L& AC developed VRC based on a
systems architecture and profile data structure similar
to that of QuestionPoint and introduced it in early
2003. Canadian libraries use VRC to submit reference
questions that are routed to a network of Canadian
libraries and information repositories that are qualified
to respond. Currently, more than 200 institutions of all
types, in all provinces and the North, participate in VRC.
Donna Dinberg, Systems Librarian/ Analyst for the VRC,
says that she and her colleagues believe that “ VRC
will have a significant impact on the way libraries and
information repositories in Canada do reference.”
The bilingual, networked, national cooperative
reference and referral service enables members across
Canada to support each other’s efforts in the provision
of quality reference service. Membership in VRC is
free and open to any library or information repository
wishing to provide quality virtual reference service to
end- users. The service also helps to facilitate member
compliance with Canadian copyright and privacy
laws. VRC member profiles contain additional profile
metadata that is culturally relevant to Canada.
�� VRC helps traditional information providers make
the transition to networked reference services,” says
Franceen Gaudet, Senior Project Officer for the VRC.
“ It also provides new ways of offering timely reference
service and ensures that information providers remain
visible and relevant to their users.”
VRC’s librarian- to- librarian service provides a question-routing
application that allows VRC members to enter
questions into the system on
behalf of patrons. Each member
institution is profiled according to
languages of service, collection
strengths and depths ( with
expanded profiling of subjects such as Canadian
history), geographic scope for specific subjects,
education levels served and other relevant data.
Incoming questions, with their own sets of surrounding
metadata, are matched against the metadata in
member profiles to permit appropriate routing of
questions. E- mail notifications keep participating staff
at both ends of the transaction fully informed of the
status of particular questions. A designated “ on- call”
librarian receives and responds to questions for which
answers cannot be found within the VRC network.
VRC complements what QuestionPoint offers to
libraries. QuestionPoint allows a library to introduce
and implement locally a complete, virtual reference
service with the option to link its local application to
the global cooperative that is OCLC.
VRC’s role is to offer a national networked reference
service to Canadian libraries and information
repositories. Canadian information providers can first
post their questions to other Canadian institutions for
responses. If unsuccessful, the questions can then
be forwarded to the global cooperative offered by
OCLC. VRC and QuestionPoint coexist to offer libraries
and information repositories options including a local
“ VRC helps traditional information
providers make the transition to
networked reference services”
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 23
reference management system, a Canada- wide virtual reference
network and an international network of information services as
needed.
Moreover, the L& AC’s participation in QuestionPoint adds an
international dimension to the service that VRC facilitates on
behalf of Canadian libraries and information repositories. As a
QuestionPoint member, the L& AC submits reference questions
online to the Global Reference Network to obtain answers
to questions for which Canadian institutions have none. In
turn, the L& AC answers questions assigned to it from other
QuestionPoint libraries and helps develop the QuestionPoint
global knowledge base.
Reference staff at the L& AC and other Canadian libraries work
side by side with OCLC staff and colleagues at the Library of
Congress, advising on QuestionPoint development and helping
to shape international standards that will guide future system
developments. As well, OCLC, LC and the L& AC are members
of NISO’s Committee AZ for Networked Reference Services http:
// www. niso. org/ committees/ committee_ az. html, which is tasked
with developing both a transaction protocol and core metadata
element sets for networked reference interchange. The
Question and Answer Transaction Protocol ( QATP) will permit
networked reference services to communicate among each
other cross- domain, network- to- network.
The L& AC and OCLC anticipate a long and fruitful relationship
as both QuestionPoint and VRC continue to grow, serve their
respective users and implement virtual reference standards that
will permit seamless, transparent interchange among users of
both networks.
QuestionPoint: http:// questionpoint. org/
Virtual Reference Canada: http:// www. nlc- bnc. ca/ vrc- rvc/
VRC and QuestionPoint coexist to offer
libraries and information repositories options
including a local reference management
system, a Canada- wide virtual reference
network and an international network of
information services as needed.
VRC’s librarian- to- librarian service
provides a question- routing application
that allows VRC members to enter
questions into the system on behalf of
patrons. E- mail notifications keep
participating staff at both ends of the
transaction fully informed of the status
of particular questions.
24 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
Update
http:// www. oclc. org/ research/ news/ dcmi- first-nataff.
shtm
Finland is first
DCMI affiliate
The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
( DCMI) and the National Library of
Finland announce that Finland is
DCMI’s first National Affiliate. DCMI
Affiliates promote the adoption
of Dublin Core specifications by
providing training and consulting
for local communities of practice.
http:// www. pais. org/ products/ ArchiveInfo. stm
PAIS Archive
database advance
purchase offer
PAIS has announced the upcoming
availability of the PAIS Archive, a
retrospective database providing
subject and bibliographic access to
resources on global public policy
and social issues. Forthcoming in
2004, the PAIS Archive will contain
the full content of the PAIS Bulletin,
1915- 1976. Contact your OCLC
Library Services representative or
regional service provider for details
on a special offer for orders placed
before January 1, 2004.
http:// www. oclc. org/ connexion/ enhancements/
upcoming. shtm
http:// www. oclc. org/ firstsearch/
announcements/ enhance_ 20030717. htm
Check out the latest
enhancements to
OCLC Connexion,
FirstSearch
New searching features, save file
improvements, OCLC- MARC format
changes and additional record
export servers are among the
enhancements made to Connexion.
FirstSearch sports an updated
appearance along with better
navigation, more customization
options, new e- journals and the
GeoRef Thesaurus.
http:// www. netlibrary. com/ titleselect/ summer_
presell_ 2003. asp
Enhance your
eBook collection
with new releases
Keep users on top of emerging
trends in computer science,
engineering, technology and more
with new eBooks from netLibrary,
a division of OCLC. More than
400 new titles are being added,
including the latest releases
from Elsevier, Kluwer Academic
Publishers, John Wiley & Sons,
Marcel Dekker Inc. and World
Scientific.
http:// www. oclc. org/ connexion/ support/
training/
A new edition
of Using OCLC
Connexion Browser
Try this recently revised tutorial
to learn about OCLC Connexion,
the new OCLC cataloging service.
The tutorial introduces the
Connexion browser and includes
system enhancements made in
controlling headings and using
diacritics, special characters and
constant data.
http:// www. infotoday. com/ online/ may03/
OLeary. shtml
QuestionPoint
fortifies libraries,
says Online
columnist
Columnist/ librarian Mick O’Leary
writes: “ QuestionPoint shows
every likelihood of fulfilling
its promise... Responses are
uniformly thorough, accurate and
demonstrate a lot of diligent,
imaginative reference work. It
shows that the two most
important foundations of
QuestionPoint— the skill and
helpfulness of its reference
librarians— are rock solid.”
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 25
Update
http:// www. oclc. org/ oclc/ forms/ listserv. htm
OCLC introduces
Spanish and French
FirstSearch listservs
Announcements about FirstSearch
translated into French will be
posted on FirstSearch- FR- L, and
Spanish translations will be posted
on FirstSearch- ES- L. To subscribe
to either list, complete the online
OCLC Internet List Subscription
Request form.
http:// www. lib. memphis. edu/
http:// www. sciway. net/ lib/ usclib. html
The Ned R.
McWherter Library,
University of
Memphis, enters 127
millionth request into
OCLC ILL service
Input on June 10, 2003, the
request was for the book Cognitive
Neuropsychology in Clinical Practice
and was filled by the Thomas
Cooper Library, University of
South Carolina, on June 11. More
than 6,000 libraries use the OCLC
Interlibrary Loan service, which
began operation in 1979.
http:// www. oclc. org/ connexion/
Connexion client to
debut later in 2003
OCLC is extending the Connexion
client introduction timeline
beyond the original date of June
30, 2003 to late 2003. This will
allow OCLC time to make changes
suggested by field test libraries
and to implement performance
improvements necessary to meet
OCLC standards. As a result of the
new release timeframe, Passport for
cataloging will continue to operate
beyond the announced retirement
date of December 31, 2003. OCLC
will provide libraries with at least
six months advance notice of a new
retirement date for Passport.
http:// www. oclc. org/ western/ products/ mars/
authorityprocessing. htm
OCLC MARC record
service now offers
Getty vocabulary
The Art & Architecture Thesaurus, a
structured vocabulary of more than
125,000 terms, scope notes and
other information for describing
fine art, architecture, decorative
arts and archival materials, can now
be used for automated authority
control projects.
http:// www2. oclc. org/ worldcat/
Watch WorldCat grow!
A new online “ record counter” lets
you see new records as they are
added to WorldCat, the OCLC Online
Union Catalog. Displayed is a brief
record that includes OCLC number,
title, author, publisher, publication
date, language, format and
contributing institution. Every eight
seconds the Web page is refreshed.
http:// www. oclc. org/ index/ savings/
Calculate your
savings with ILL Fee
management
A new calculator shows you how
much money you’ll save by signing
up for the OCLC Interlibrary Loan
Fee Management service. Just type
in the number of your requests
or loans and click calculate.
Used by more than 2,000 OCLC
members, IFM reduces a library’s
administrative costs by tracking and
reconciling ILL charges through its
OCLC bill.
26 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
Update
http:// www. netlibrary. com/ ebooknews/ 2003/
june/ 11421_ CaseStudy_ Oklahoma_ U. pdf
Read how the
University of
Oklahoma is
developing its
eBook collection
In this case study, Karen Rupp-
Serrano, Head of Collection
Development, talks about the
purchase, usage, promotion and
future of eBooks at Oklahoma. For
the university and its students, an
eBook collection is not just a matter
of convenience anymore— it’s a
necessity.
http:// www. oclc. org/ oclc/ uc/ meet. htm# launch
Report from May
OCLC Members
Council Meeting
Presentations and minutes from
the general session as well as the
library group and interest group
discussions are now available on
the OCLC Web site. In addition,
a webcast featuring reports
from outgoing Members Council
President Kristin Senecal, OCLC
Board Chair Bill Crowe and OCLC
President and CEO Jay Jordan is
available for viewing.
http:// www. webjunction. org
WebJunction video
now available
View this six- minute video via
the WebJunction Home Page
or order it online to learn how
WebJunction was formed and how
it can help you. WebJunction is a
new online community of libraries
and other agencies sharing
knowledge and experience to
provide the broadest public access
to information technology.
http:// www. oclcpica. org/? id= 1294& ln= uk
OCLC PICA purchases
interlibrary loan
system
To enhance services to U. K.
public libraries, OCLC PICA,
the OCLC European Library
Cooperative, has acquired
V3. Web, the ILL requesting
and management system
previously provided by LIBPAC.
Says Martin Harrison, Managing
Director of LIBPAC, “ We sought a
partner to safeguard the future of
V3 and are delighted that OCLC
PICA will continue our innovative
development strategy, widen
access and provide exciting
new opportunities for
the V3 community.”
http:// www. bookpage. com/
Try WorldCat link
from ProMotion’s
bookpage
These links allow users to go
directly from BookPage. com to
WorldCat to check for library
ownership information for any book
in the BookPage review archive.
The links are labeled “ Find it at a
local library” and appear in a box
titled “ Buy or Borrow This Book!”
http:// www. olaweb. org/ quarterly/ quar9- 1/
houk. shtml
“ Handcrafted or mass
produced: What are
you willing to pay
and is it worth it?”
Gary Houk, OCLC Vice President,
Cataloging and Metadata Services,
presents a provocative overview of
the effects automation has had on
cataloging and what needs to be
done. “ Automation in cataloging
in particular still is and has been
used as a tool to get old tasks
accomplished more productively,
rather than as a tool to create more
productive ways of getting
things done.”
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 27
Update
http:// dc2003. ischool. washington. edu/
index. html
Mark your calendars
for DC- 2003!
To be held in Seattle, Washington,
Sept. 28– Oct. 2, the 2003
Dublin Core Conference provides
participants with a forum for
intensive interaction with
researchers, practitioners and
decision makers concerned with
advances in metadata for resource
discovery, retrieval, management
and use. Researchers will share
inquiries, methodologies and
results from their latest studies and
system implementers will share
application developments and
display their tools through
the DC- Lab.
http:// www. oclc. org/ research/ grants/
Attention library
science faculty: Apply
for an OCLC/ ALISE
research grant
The OCLC/ ALISE Library and
Information Science Research
Grant program awards up to
$ 15,000 to foster quality research
by faculty in schools of library
and information science. Projects
generally are completed within one
year, and findings are published
in the public domain. Deadline
for 2004 proposals is Sept. 15.
Grant recipients will be notified
by the end of December 2003
and announced at the ALISE ’ 04
National Conference, January 6– 9
in San Diego.
http:// www. oclc. org/ oclc/ press/
20030530b. shtm
Attend the 2003
Virtual Reference
Desk Conference in
November
The OCLC Institute and the
Information Institute of Syracuse
at Syracuse University are
cosponsoring the 2003 Virtual
Reference Desk Conference,
“ Reference Roundup,” Nov. 17– 18,
in San Antonio, Texas. Robert S.
Martin, Director of the Institute
of Museum and Library Services
is scheduled to keynote this
year’s conference, which has
become a leading professional
event dedicated to the rapidly
changing field of reference systems,
standards and practice.
Remembering Hyman Kritzer,
former Chairman of the OCLC Board of Trustees
Hyman Kritzer, Director of Kent State University
Libraries & Media Services from 1966– 1983 and
former Chair of the OCLC Board of Trustees, died
at age 84 in November 2002. Mr. Kritzer was first
elected to the OCLC Board in November 1969 to fill
the unexpired term of another Board member. A year
later, he was elected Board Chairman, a post he held
through 1972.
Mr. Kritzer’s contributions to modern librarianship
were summarized in the 2003 edition of the
Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook:
“ Kritzer’s strong commitment to collection building
did not blind him to the importance of preparing
Kent for the dawning electronic age. He was a
founding member of the Online Computer Library
Center ( OCLC) and, as a member of the first OCLC
Board of Trustees, which he chaired from 1970
to 1972, played a crucial role in establishing the
fundamental structure and philosophy of the world’s
first— and, today, the world’s largest— bibliographic
utility. Under Kritzer’s direction, Kent State offered
on- site OCLC workshops that attracted librarians from
across the country and generated OCLC instructional
videotapes that were ordered by libraries from South
Bend to South Africa. Both programs contributed to
the resource base Kritzer built to support the major
automation wave of the 1980s.”
28 OCLC Newsletter July 2003 www. oclc. org
Update
http:// www. hcc. hawaii. edu/ hspls/ hsl/
hslov. html
http:// www. loc. gov/
http:// www. oclc. org/ oclc/ menu/ ill. htm
Hawaii State Library
enters 128 millionth
ILL request
On July 24, the Hawaii State Library
entered the 128 millionth request
into the OCLC Interlibrary Loan
service. The request was for a
French book, Stations centrales;
postes de transformation et lignes
de force, and was filled by the
Library of Congress on July 30.
http:// www. oclc. org/ oclc/ press/ 20030805. shtm
OCLC announces IFLA
Fellows for 2004
Four newly- named Fellows will join
the five named for 2003 whose
fellowships were postponed due
to SARS illness concerns. All
nine Fellows will travel to OCLC’s
Dublin, Ohio headquarters in May
2004 for several weeks of study
to enhance their understanding
of information technologies and
global cooperative librarianship.
http:// www. oclc. org/ research/ software/ frbr/
index. shtm
OCLC announces
no- charge access to
FRBR algorithm
The algorithm is available at
no charge to institutions
interested in converting their
bibliographic databases to the
Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records ( FRBR)
model, in which individual records
are brought together under the
concept of a work.
Sign up for OCLC Abstracts
This weekly update delivers to your desktop
general news about OCLC programs, services,
events and activities. It includes delivery of the
new e- version of the OCLC Newsletter.
To subscribe, send a “ subscribe oclcabstracts
< your name >” e- mail message to
listserv@ oclc. org or complete the online OCLC
Internet List Subscription Request form at
http:// www. oclc. org/ oclc/ forms/ listserv. htm.
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter July 2003 29
www. oclc. org
Coming soon!
Like many librarians, you’ve probably visited our
Web site at one time or another for the latest OCLC
news and information. Providing relevant content for
librarians has always been our focus and will continue
to be. That’s why we’re improving our Web site— so you
can take greater advantage of the OCLC cooperative.
You’ll immediately notice the improvements of our
new site: cleaner design, more intuitive navigation
structure, better content organization.
But when you take a closer look, you’ll notice even more:
• new areas such as Community and Professional Development
• enhanced product and service information
• easier access to research news
• region and language support for our worldwide membership
• expanded e- business features and offerings
Why all this effort?
We want www. oclc. org to be your site— with content centered on
your needs and initiated by you— content you can use everyday
and share with your peers.
See the new stuff.
We added entirely new sections full
of information and opportunities. Be
sure to look at the Community and
Professional Development areas.
Old favorites are still here.
We kept the most popular areas of the
site, such as the Librarian’s Toolbox, and
enhanced the content in them.
Come back often.
Return visits will be well worth your time as
we’ll continually add, expand and deepen
information relevant to your career and
library science.
Easy navigation, rich content, fast access to information
OCLC
Newsletter
6565 Frantz Road
Dublin, OH 43017- 3395 USA
Non- profit Org.
U. S. Postage
Paid
Columbus, Ohio
Permit No. 5391
Product Code NEW8442a
0803/ 11462– 47M, B& S
OCLC PICA leaders
participate in LIBER
annual conference
More than 200 librarians ( many of them pictured above)
gathered in Rome, Italy for the 32nd LIBER Annual
Conference, hosted by the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale
de Roma in June. Among them were representatives
of OCLC PICA senior management’s team: Rein
van Charldorp, Managing Director at OCLC PICA
headquarters in Leiden, The Netherlands; Janet Lees,
Director of the Birmingham, England OCLC PICA office;
and Nicholas Rawson, Director of the Paris, France OCLC
PICA office. Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO, gave
the keynote address during the conference welcome
session, speaking on “ The Challenges of Librarianship
in the Expanding Library Service Worldwide.” LIBER
( Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche) is
the principal association of the major research libraries
of Europe. It was founded in 1971, and serves research
libraries in more than 30 countries.
Photo provided by OCLC PICA, Birmingham, United Kingdom
OCLC Newsletter
