OCLC
Newsletter
OCLC publishes
Environmental Scan
Page 10
OCLC founder honored
on 90th birthday
Page 15
JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 ISSN: 0163- 898X No. 263
Guiding Web users to the library
for the resources they need
OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 www. oclc. org
Format Number of Percentage Locations of
records of total items cataloged
Books 43,006,181 83.51% 831,060,619
Serials 2,554,647 4.96% 27,692,521
Visual
materials 1,674,988 3.25% 15,725,384
Maps 737,021 1.43% 3,670,785
Mixed
materials 328,390 0.64% 397,986
Sound
recordings 1,796,901 3.49% 20,258,634
Scores 1,195,651 2.32% 9,178,792
Computer
files 204,715 0.40% 981,366
Totals 57,498,494 100.00% 908,966,087
as of January 2004
JAN | FEB | MAR 2004, No. 263
The OCLC Newsletter ( ISSN: 0163- 898X) is published by OCLC Corporate
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Editor: Brad Gauder
Contributing Editors: Bob Murphy, Phil Schieber and Tom Storey
Layout and design: Linda Shepard and James Lutz
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About the cover
Google is one of several
services on the Web from
which information seekers
can be directed to WorldCat
libraries to fi nd the
resources they need��
through OCLC’s Open WorldCat pilot program.
Learn how OCLC is working with some 12,000
libraries on this pilot, which may lead to its
implementation as an OCLC service.
The OCLC Cooperative
Governing Members 8,660
Members 13,554
Participating libraries 47,669
Libraries outside the United States 9,708
FirstSearch libraries 21,310
Countries & territories served 84
WorldCat
Highest OCLC record number 54,423,518
Languages in WorldCat 458
Total OCLC Interlibrary Loan 133,256,088
service requests ( since 1979)
Total end user searches of WorldCat 160,726,683*
on FirstSearch ( since 1991)
* excluding training symbols
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 JAN | FEB | MAR 2004
Contents
Features Departments
4 Being relevant in a
Web world
Learn how OCLC’s
Open WorldCat pilot
is guiding Web users
to libraries for the
resources they need.
8 Moving Z39.50 into
the Web world
OCLC researcher Ralph LeVan is helping
create new technology to make Z39.50
interoperable with the Web.
10 OCLC publishes Environmental Scan
In its role as library advocate, OCLC
recently published The 2003 OCLC
Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition
to engage information professionals in
dialogue about various trends affecting
the library community.
12 Interview with Sal Cilella: Preserving
the community memory
Sal Cilella, President and Chief Executive
Offi cer of the Indiana Historical Society,
shares his thoughts on how historical
societies and libraries work together
to preserve the community memory.
17 OCLC founder celebrates 90 years
On January 6, OCLC Founder, Frederick G.
Kilgour, was honored at a reception in honor
of his 90th birthday at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
16 Update
Mark your calendars for DC- 2004
54 millionth record enters WorldCat
Research grant recipients named
OCLC now offering services for group
Statsbiblioteket enters 132 millionth ILL request
Need info on virtual reference?
Look at these papers
JISC study suggests that library portals
boost database usage
Demonstrate your library’s impact
netLibrary 2004 debuts
How might these trends affect your library?
Reference reality check: an OCLC streaming
video presentation
OCLC by the Numbers
2 From the President
From Jay Jordan
Extending WorldCat,
raising the visibility
of libraries
Extending WorldCat, raising the
visibility of libraries
Christine Deschamps, former IFLA president,
former OCLC trustee and well- known French
librarian, attended the World Summit on the
Information Society in Geneva, Switzerland this
past December at OCLC’s behest. There were
44 heads of state, prime ministers, presidents
and vice- presidents, and 83 ministers and
vice- ministers from 176 countries in attendance.
Librarians were there too, as part of a six- member
IFLA delegation.
While the Summit participants initially focused on
technology, librarians made their presence known,
and with it, introduced a new focus on libraries and
the content they provide in the Information Society.
Armed with pamphlets, brochures and minutes of
daily meetings, the librarians pressed their case
throughout the Summit.
“ One of the delegates was heard to say that he
was sick of hearing about libraries all the time,”
said Mme. Deschamps, a testament to the ubiquity
of the library delegation. “ It is up to us ( librarians)
to demonstrate that the global library network
provides the foundation for the global
information society.”
Mme. Deschamps is right— it is up to us to make
libraries more visible, not only at World Summits,
but in the daily lives of people around the world.
I am pleased to report that your OCLC cooperative
has been doing much recently along those lines.
Open WorldCat pilot
In June 2003, we started the Open WorldCat pilot
to determine the feasibility of providing a new
service that would integrate the collections of
OCLC member libraries into heavily used Web sites.
The notion was to make it easy for a person who is
looking for information via a search engine to end
up fi nding it in a nearby library. To do this,
we would make WorldCat records directly available
to the general public for the fi rst time. Heretofore,
as you know, WorldCat had been available only
through participating libraries.
We began the pilot after extensive consultations
with the Board of Trustees, Members Council,
regional service providers and member libraries.
There was consensus that this was something we
had to try. After all, numerous recent studies had
indicated that people are increasingly turning to
the Web fi rst for their information needs, often
ignoring libraries when doing research. The pilot
offered the possibility of raising the visibility of
libraries on the Web.
Eight months later, the pilot service is now
available from a variety of services on the Web
including Abebooks, Alibris, Antiquarian
Booksellers Association of America ( ABAA),
BookPage and HCI Bibliography. For example,
a person searching the ABAA Web site for an
out- of- print book would have the option of fi nding
libraries holding the item if the search came up
with no hits among ABAA members. “ Find it in a
WorldCat Library by pressing the button below,”
the message reads. Users are doing about 50,000
searches a month on these sites.
2 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 www. oclc. org
In 2003, we implemented CONTENTdm, a software
package that: 1) facilitates WorldCat access to
photos, graphics and other objects in digitized
special collections of libraries and other cultural
heritage institutions; and 2) automatically harvests
metadata from the collections for subsequent
conversion at OCLC to the MARC format and
loading into WorldCat. More than 100 institutions
are now using this software to manage more than
one million digital objects in their collections.
The Indiana Historical Society became the fi rst
institution to register one of its special collections
for metadata harvesting by OCLC. Over the next
few months, it will become possible for users to
gain access to images in the Postcards of Indiana
collection through links from WorldCat. To date,
fi ve more institutions have registered their special
collections for metadata harvesting: Combined
Arms Research Library, LOUIS: The Louisiana Digital
Library, University of Oregon, Westminster College
and Wisconsin Historical Society. These are
important fi rst steps in exposing rich special
collections of libraries to searchers on the Web.
You can read more about the Open WorldCat pilot
and the Indiana Historical Society in this issue of
the OCLC Newsletter. I think you will agree that
these projects are demonstrating the value that
the global library network can bring to the
information society. They should be worth
mentioning at the next World Summit on the
Information Society, which will be held in
Tunis in 2005.
Jay Jordan
President and Chief Executive Officer
OCLC
Last September, we notifi ed member libraries that
in partnership with Google, we were making a
subset of 2 million abbreviated records from
WorldCat available on the Google search service,
with links to the Web- based catalogs and sites
of 12,000 academic, public and school libraries
participating in OCLC.
The pilot with Google has attracted a great deal
of attention in the library community. There is
strong support among the OCLC membership.
Of the original 12,000 libraries included in the
pilot, only 193 ( 1.6 percent) have withdrawn, and
an additional 48 institutions, including 12 state
libraries, have asked to join. In December, the
records started showing up on Google. To date,
about 360,000 abbreviated records are available.
( Since the pilot began, Google has changed its har-vesting
limits to accommodate WorldCat records.)
Users are now doing about 10,000 click- throughs
a week on WorldCat records on Google and its
affi liates, AOL and Netscape. While this is
a relatively small number, the trends
are encouraging.
In November and December, we held market
research sessions with U. S. academic, public and
school librarians. We also conducted usability
tests with librarians and end- users. In January,
we held market research sessions with a group
of academic librarians in the United Kingdom.
We will be conducting market research sessions
with end- users in the United States. We will
continue to listen closely to libraries and their
users during the pilot and will refi ne the service
based on their feedback. In the coming months,
we will decide whether to proceed with
implementation of an ongoing service.
Making special collections more visible
Another way that OCLC is helping libraries
increase their visibility on the Web is by
automatically harvesting metadata about
digitized special collections and adding it
to WorldCat.
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 3
Being relevant in a Web world
OCLC’s Open WorldCat pilot now in progress
By Brad Gauder
According to one U. S. state librarian, OCLC is
on the right track with one of its newest efforts
to help libraries regain their relevance. The
Open WorldCat pilot, a year- long initiative, is
testing the effectiveness of Web search engines
like Google and other Web sites to guide users
to library- owned materials.
“ Libraries need to be relevant, and what OCLC is doing
with this pilot will help more people realize that they
are while increasing libraries’ visibility,” says Jan
Walsh, Washington State Librarian.
“ The Web has created a huge shift in how people seek
information, so it’s important that we get into the space
where potential library users are,” she says. “ Google
is now in the content profession and so we need to
remind people that their libraries have always been in
that profession. The Open WorldCat pilot is one way we
can do that.”
If you ask a typical college student where he or she
begins searching for information to complete an
assignment, chances are the answer will be Google
or another popular Internet search engine, according
to recent research. Research by Pew and Harris
Interactive studies confirms that the majority of college
students now start with commercial search engines
when conducting research for most or all of their
assignments. 1, 2 These and other studies concern the
library community and the OCLC cooperative for several
reasons:
• Many resources on commercial Web sites don’t
undergo the scrutiny that library acquisitions do, so
users risk using resources that are unreliable and/ or
outdated.
• Web resources often don’t offer the breadth of
resources that users need.
• Users are more often bypassing the expertise and
resources available to them from their local libraries.
“ While popular search engines offer immediate
gratification, they often lack the quality and depth of
information that information seekers need,” says Frank
Hermes, OCLC Vice President, Cooperative Discovery
Services. “ Our purpose is to make their libraries’
collections and expertise available in a fast, efficient
manner.”
OCLC’s Open WorldCat pilot aims to address those
concerns and redirect information seekers to their
libraries to find the trustworthy resources they need for
their research. But instead of pulling library users from
the Web sites they tend to visit first, OCLC has found
a way through the pilot to put libraries on Google and
other Web sites.
Extending WorldCat beyond the
library environment
The roots of the Open WorldCat pilot date to 2000,
when OCLC first established agreements with a small
number of Web- based booksellers and bibliographies
to test the linking of library resources to commercial
Web sites. These linking agreements remain in effect,
enabling users of sites that include Abebooks, Alibris,
Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America ( ABAA),
BookPage and HCI Bibliography to enter geographic
information to produce lists of libraries that own
desired items. Currently, links on these sites yield an
average of 50,000 searches per month on WorldCat
for libraries that own items.
Encouraged by the results of the efforts with
booksellers and at the urging of the OCLC cooperative,
OCLC pursued development of the Open WorldCat pilot.
4 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 www. oclc. org
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 7
OCLC spent a year conducting market research with
various constituencies including OCLC Members
Council and advisory committee delegates, other
leaders in the library community and working
librarians. The research clearly indicated it was
time to test the viability of an OCLC service that
could guide users from search engines and Web
sites to libraries to locate needed items.
The Open WorldCat pilot marks the first time that
OCLC has made WorldCat’s unique resources
available from outside the library environment.
It officially began in June 2003 and will run through
June 2004. OCLC will analyze data collected during
the pilot and decide by mid- 2004 whether or not to
implement it as a service.
The pilot’s main goal is to make libraries more
visible. It does this by pointing current and
potential users to library collections for the
materials they want. Thus, the pilot promotes
the value and relevance of libraries on a scale
far beyond what individual libraries or consortia
could accomplish.
“ I am very interested in the Open WorldCat pilot
as part of OCLC����s strategy of ‘ weaving the Web
into libraries and weaving libraries into the Web,’”
says Stephen Rollins, Dean, Consortium Library,
University of Alaska Anchorage.
“ If a student starts with Google, the academic
library should have a presence at that starting
point. When a student or researcher starts an
information search, the library presence should
be obvious.”
A user who searches Google for
information will see a “ Find in
a Library” link to abbreviated
WorldCat records for relevant
items held by 100 or more
libraries that have cataloged
the items in WorldCat.
“ We need to establish ourselves as a premier
cultural heritage institution, and OCLC is helping
us do that with the Open WorldCat pilot.��
— Jan Walsh, Washington State Librarian
Photo courtesy of Jan Walsh
While the terminology varies depending on the
external Web site a user is searching, all
of OCLC’s partners in the Open WorldCat pilot
provide direct links to abbreviated WorldCat
records for items available at libraries that
have cataloged the items in WorldCat.
How the Open WorldCat pilot works
The Open WorldCat pilot provides information
seekers with access to abbreviated WorldCat
records, representing the items most widely owned
by libraries that have contributed to WorldCat.
For Google users, the pilot provides access
to a subset of 2 million abbreviated WorldCat
records. All academic, public and school
libraries that have contributed to WorldCat
( about 12,000 libraries) were automatic
participants in the pilot.
The pilot has three primary components:
1. The subset of abbreviated WorldCat records
harvested by Google. When matching records
are found, they are identified as available from
WorldCat and include a link to the end- user
interface ( see below) to help users find libraries
that own the items they want.
2. Links from other Web sites, such as
Abebooks, Alibris, ABAA, BookPage
and HCI Bibliography. When a user
searches for an item by author or title
using one of these Web sites, a link
or button appears that the user can
follow to identify libraries that hold
the desired item.
“ The more obvious our presence in our user
community, the more likely our users will retrieve
the best resources in their areas of interest.”
— Stephen Rollins, Dean, Consortium Library, University of
Alaska Anchorage
www. oclc. org 6 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 Photo courtesy of Stephen Rollins
3. An end- user interface that directs users
to libraries. The interface design helps users
determine quickly which libraries hold the items
they need. A user enters a ZIP/ postal code,
state, province or country to retrieve a list of the
nearest libraries that hold the desired item. This
list includes maps of library locations and links to
library Web sites and online catalogs.
For the month of January, the pilot logged nearly
93,000 inbound clicks that originated from the
Google, BookPage, Alibris, ABAA, Abebooks and
HCI Bibliography Web sites. This represents an
80% growth in monthly inbound activity from
December 2003 to January 2004.
For the duration of the pilot, the service is provided
to participating libraries at no charge. Libraries
that wish to join or withdraw from the pilot may
do by submitting the form available on the pilot
Web site: www. oclc. org/ worldcat/ pilot.
The pilot is also open to other types of libraries
that were not originally included. Libraries that
already contribute to WorldCat can complete the
feedback form available on the pilot Web page
to join the pilot. Libraries that do not use OCLC
for cataloging should contact OCLC or a regional
service provider for information on how to add
their holdings to WorldCat and thereby become
eligible to join the pilot.
Mr. Rollins notes that his library plans to promote
the Open WorldCat pilot over the university’s
listserv and Web sites. “ We are also discussing
how to provide home delivery when a book is
requested,” he says.
Helping libraries remain relevant
“ Libraries are still relevant,” says OCLC’s Chip
Nilges, Director, WorldCat Services. “ What we’re
doing with the Open WorldCat pilot is integrating
library resources with the open Web to make
library resources more accessible to information
seekers.”
Ms. Walsh notes that current library users aren’t
the primary target market for a service like the
Open WorldCat pilot— it’s people who no longer
use their libraries and those who never have
used them. “ We want these non- users to say,
‘ Oh yeah, I could get this from the library’ when
they search for information on Google or another
search engine.”
“ Twice in recent years our governor has proposed
closing the state library and the survival
experience has significantly deepened our staff’s
commitment to being relevant,” explains Ms.
Walsh. “ We need to establish ourselves as a
premier cultural heritage institution, and OCLC is
helping us do that with the Open WorldCat pilot.”
A decision about whether the Open WorldCat pilot
will become an official service from OCLC will
be made in mid- 2004. Ms. Walsh is cautiously
optimistic. “ While I’m in awe of this pilot and
think it’s a huge, positive step for OCLC, I have to
keep in mind it is still a prototype. So let’s see
how it goes.”
Mr. Rollins also supports the pilot’s intent.
“ If [ the] Open WorldCat [ pilot] is successful,
then it will place academic libraries in the same
space as Web users and that will be a very
good thing,” he says.
“ The more obvious our presence is to our user
community, the more likely we will see support
from our user communities in terms of donations
to the library or lobbying for adequate funding.
The more obvious our presence in our user
community, the more likely our users will retrieve
the best resources in their areas of interest.”
1. OCLC White Paper on the Information
Habits of College Students, June 2002.
2. Jones, Steve, “ The Internet Goes to College,”
Pew Internet & American Life Project,
http:// www. pewinternet. org/ reports/ toc. asp? Report= 71 .
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 7
Moving Z39.50
to the Web
OCLC researcher develops open- source software
to blend an important library standard into the
WWW infrastructure and help solve Web
searching problems
By Tom Storey
As a result of digital technology, the library
community increasingly overlaps with other
online communities, such as museums and other
cultural organizations, and the Web development
community itself. These communities have
substantial intellectual resources, but often
lack extensive experience with discovery
metadata and information retrieval from text- based
databases. Libraries have been working on these
issues for decades, and one tool they have
developed is Z39.50, a client/ server standard
for searching local and distributed databases.
Ralph LeVan, an OCLC Research Scientist who
has been involved with Z39.50 since 1983, is
helping create the next generation of Z39.50
software. Called Search and Retrieve Web/ Search
and Retrieve URLs ( SRW/ U), the new Z39.50 is a
Web service that uses several Z39.50 features
and combines them with simple, robust and
modern Web technology. Mr. LeVan has written
an open- source version of the software, which
libraries and other organizations can download
at no charge from the OCLC Web site.
“ The SRW/ U initiative is part of an international
collaborative effort to develop a standard,
Web- based, text- searching interface,” says
Mr. LeVan. “ It is ‘ plumbing’ that uses different
mechanisms for transmitting requests and
presenting data, and it draws heavily on the
abstract models and functionality of Z39.50,
yet removes much of the complexity.”
Mr. LeVan says that the Z39.50 standard solved
most of the problems associated with text
searching of large, distributed text databases—
different interfaces, indexing, record formats and
sizes. Now that expertise needs to be brought to
the Web where there are few widely supported
standards for searching databases. This makes
searching less effi cient for the system provider,
the content provider and ultimately the end- user.
SRW/ U brings the Z39.50 experience to the Web
community using tools they are comfortable
with— Web Service Description Language, Simple
Object Access Protocol and Extensible Markup
Language, says Mr. LeVan. It provides a basis
for the Web community to solve some of their
searching problems, and the potential for Web
applications to access Z39.50 resources.
“ Developing SRW interfaces to data repositories
is signifi cantly easier than for Z39.50,” he says.
One example of where SRW could be a solution
for the Web community is in metasearching.
Metasearch engines are Web sites that search a
number of search engines and database systems
and combine the results, such as dogpile. com
and highway61. com. Mr. LeVan says that
developers for these sites would love to have
a standard that they could expect database
providers to implement.
Initially developed before the advent of the Web,
Z39.50 is a client/ server- based protocol that
makes databases easier to use by establishing
uniform standards so different systems can
communicate with one another in a way that is
transparent to users. It is one of the premier
examples of library cooperation and a standard
that large parts of the library and archive world
rely on to exchange records and share information.
However, Mr. LeVan says that for the newer
generation of developers, Z39.50 is far too big
and unwieldy to read, understand and implement.
Z39.50 uses protocols for communications, search
language, information retrieval and data structure
that are different from those used with the Web.
8 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 www. oclc. org
It also is not very popular due to its complexity:
11 native services, seven extended services and
150 pages of documentation, for example.
By contrast, SRW/ U is one service— search
and retrieve— that uses common Web
development tools.
Mr. LeVan notes that a search and retrieve Web
service is a component called for in most digital
repository architectures. “ The distinctive
advantage of SRW over classic Z39.50 is that the
Web community is already committed to services
running over HTTP,” he says. “ This is a great
opportunity to leverage library experience with
text searching in local and distributed databases,
and to provide increased interoperability with
other communities on the Web.”
To learn more about SRW/ U, please see:
http:// www. oclc. org/ research/ projects/
webservices/ default. htm
From OCLC Research Labs
FRBR Bookmarklets: A way to weave your
library’s collection into Web bookstores
OCLC Research is integrating a technology called
“ bookmarklets” with its FRBR algorithm to create an
experimental service that lets Web surfers instantly
search a local library catalog while browsing an
online bookseller. FRBR Bookmarklets expands on
work originally done by Jon Udell at InfoWorld and
makes a library’s holdings more visible and accessible
on the Internet.
Here’s how it works.
Written in JavaScript code, FRBR Bookmarklets
captures the ISBN displayed in the URL on the
bookseller’s page or from the page itself, combines
it with associated ISBNs for the same work, and sends
the search to the library’s online public access catalog.
If the library owns the book, or any associated edition,
a record or list of records appears on the screen
complete with shelf status information.
In addition to Web booksellers, the bookmarklets
also work from other sources of bibliographic
information containing ISBNs, such as the OCLC
FirstSearch service.
FRBR Bookmarklets uses WorldCat as its source for
ISBNs. The FRBR Algorithm, which OCLC Research
developed to convert library catalogs to the FRBR
model, was used to build tables of ISBNs for all
intellectual works represented in WorldCat. FRBR
Bookmarklets queries the tables and receives a string
of all ISBNs for the work, and then sends the string
in a Boolean OR search to the library catalog.
To date, there are 20 online public access catalogs
profi led for the experimental service. To activate any
one of them as a FRBR Bookmarklet, users need to
drag the OPAC bookmarklet to their browser’s links
bar. Then, when viewing detailed book information
at a Web bookseller or another source, users click on
the bookmarklet in their links bar to see if their local
library holds it.
Chief Scientist Thom Hickey, along with Software
Architects Jeffrey A. Young and Jennifer Toves and
Consulting Product Support Specialist Eric Childress,
developed the experimental service and believe they
can enhance it using library holdings information in
WorldCat. “ We want to take advantage of the fact that
WorldCat knows which edition of a work a library holds
and place that edition at the top of the results set,”
says Mr. Young.
New libraries can be added to the profi le list by fi lling
out a request form on the FRBR Bookmarklets Web site.
To learn more about FRBR Bookmarklets, visit:
www. oclc. org/ research/ researchworks/ bookmarklets/
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 9
OCLC Research Scientist Ralph LeVan is bringing
the Z39.50 experience to the Web with SRW/ U.
12 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 www. oclc. org
The scan surveys the library and information
landscape from several perspectives or
“ landscapes,” including social, economic,
technology and research & learning. Data from
29 countries, representing all regions of the
world and a broad range of economies, provides
helpful perspective on the relative status of
libraries in varying locations around the world.
A variety of profi les, charts and tabular data
further illustrates the fi ndings across the various
landscapes. The profi les include a “ Generation X”
librarian and a “ Gamer,” plus a look at the growth
of libraries in new residential developments in
Guangzhou, China. The scan provides charts and
other guides that help readers separate “ the
hype from the hope” as they read about
emerging technologies.
The scan isn’t intended to be a sole source of
answers for circumstances affecting the library
and information world. Instead, it’s meant to
engage library and information professionals in
dialogue to purposefully consider how libraries
and other information repositories can respond
to the various trends discussed in the scan.
Readers are encouraged to share comments
and recommendations with OCLC in response
to the scan.
Feedback from those who have read the scan has
been very affi rming, according to Ms. De Rosa.
“ We had some wonderful opportunities at the
ALA Midwinter Meeting and the PLA conference
to share an overview of our fi ndings with librarians
and now we’re hearing from some of them how
much they appreciate the publication of the scan
as a much- needed discussion starter.”
You can view the online version of the scan at
http:// www. oclc. org/ membership/ escan/.
The scan is also available in print and may be
ordered from the same Web page for a charge
of $ 15 per copy, to cover shipping and
production expenses.
OCLC publishes
Environmental
Scan
By Brad Gauder
As part of its strategic planning endeavors, OCLC
recently completed publication of The 2003 OCLC
Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition, a 150-
page report to the worldwide OCLC membership.
This report, also available on the OCLC Web site
in an online format, looks at significant issues
and trends that affect OCLC, libraries and other
information repositories now and in the future.
According to Cathy De Rosa, OCLC Vice President,
Marketing, the scan is a natural outcome of OCLC’s
role as library advocate. “ Librarians should look to
OCLC not only as a source of solutions for their
day- to- day operations but also as a resource for
information about navigating continually changing
landscapes. The scan is one way we can engage in
dialogue and together chart a course for the years
ahead,” she says.
Work on the scan began in the summer of 2003.
Much of the information reported in the scan
refl ects input gathered from interviews
with more than 100 persons,
including librarians, information
industry leaders and OCLC-affi
liated partners, and
focus groups with high
school students,
teachers and senior
citizens. The scan
also includes
research fi ndings
from some
250 articles
and other
publications.
Countries included in the Environmental Scan
A worldwide lens was used to construct this scan. Detailed
education, library and technology spend data was collected for a
subset of countries. This subset was constructed based on data
available and geographic representation. The sample size chosen
represents approximately 60 percent of the world’s population and
85 percent of the world’s gross domestic product. The following
countries comprise the sample:
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
France
Germany
Hungary
India
Italy
Japan
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Trinidad & Tobago
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 11
Electronic content/ subscriptions 3%
Uses of library funds
worldwide
Other ( grants, donations) 8.5%
Sources of library funds
www. oclc. org
Interview: Sal Cilella
Salvatore G. Cilella, Jr. has been in the museum fi eld for
33 years. He was Executive Director of the Northern In-diana
Historical Society, South Bend, Ind., and Historic
Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Pa.; Assistant to the Director of
the New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown,
N. Y.; and Director of Development and Membership at
Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Mass. For six years
he served as a Development Offi cer for the Smithsonian
Institution. Between October 1987 and June 2001, he
was the Executive Director of the Columbia Museum of
Art, Columbia, S. C. On July 1, 2001 he was appointed
President and Chief Executive Offi cer of the Indiana
Historical Society, Indianapolis, Ind.
Mr. Cilella has served as a consultant to several
museums through the auspices of the American
Association of Museums and the American Association
for State and Local History. He has served as a member
of the AAM’s Membership Committee, Development
Committee and Nominating Committee, as well as
Chairman of the Development and Membership
Standing Professional Committee. He has written in
the areas of painting collection, American maps and
prints, fund- raising, membership and institutional
development.
Mr. Cilella holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in
American History from the University of Notre Dame.
He received a master’s in Museum Administration from
the State University College at Oneonta, New York,
through the Cooperstown Graduate Program.
Can you tell us about your background and how you
became interested in cultural heritage organizations?
I have been interested in history all my life. And I have
always been a collector. In college during the ‘ 60s, the
only thing one could do it seemed was to teach history,
but I didn’t see many teachers using the objects and
artifacts of history. I volunteered in the local museum
as a student and then realized just before I went into
the service that one could go to school to learn how to
be a museum person.
What are historical societies all about and why
are they valuable?
Historical societies are all about the common
community memory. Some have more, some have less.
Some stories are completely forgotten to the detriment
of others, but it is not a zero- sum game. There must
be room for all stories in the tapestry that is local and
regional history. When Carter Brown, the Director
of the National Gallery of Art, opened the British
Country House blockbuster show in the mid- 1980s in
Washington, his remark that these houses were the
“ vessels of civilization” is also very true of American
historical societies. And we are really the successors
of the great libraries of ancient times where the
sum of human knowledge at that time was held
for safekeeping.
How is the Indiana Historical Society organized and
what sites and museums does it manage?
The Indiana Historical Society does not operate any
sites or museums. It operates the Indiana History
Center in Indianapolis with a statewide mandate by
its charter when the organization was founded in
1830. Our new long- range plan adopted two years ago
restates that mandate and broadens its reach beyond
Preserving the
community memory
12 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004
By Tom Storey
CONTENTdm software is bringing unique materials online
and into WorldCat for the Indiana Historical Society
Photo courtesy of Indiana Historical Society
www. oclc. org
Interview: Sal Cilella
just other historical societies or museums. We have
a board of 27, a staff of 100 full- and part- time
employees, a $ 10 million budget, a $ 115 million
endowment and a brand new ( 1999) 165,000
square- foot, state- of- the- art building where we
welcome some 130,000 visitors a year.
How does the society’s library work with the
museum and other parts of the organization?
Our primary asset is the library and we are not
technically a museum at all. We operate like a
museum, but we do not collect any three- dimensional
objects. We concentrate on historical documents, such
as manuscripts, photographs, maps, books and most
anything with writing on paper. The library informs all
of our other programs. Without that scholarly base of
information we would be no different than Disneyland.
The library is the center of all of our information and it
supports our publishing program, our public programs,
particularly our exhibits, and all of our outreach and
programs we do for the public.
How is running the society’s library different from
running the museum?
Since we do not have a museum, running the library is
not much different here than anywhere else— customer
service is primary.
The society has thousands of cubic feet of materials—
personal papers, manuscripts, photographs,
postcards, posters. Does your library catalog
these materials?
Yes, we catalog photographs, books, manuscripts,
videos, etc. We want our collections to have the widest
access possible in their usage. Putting them in the
online catalog is the easiest way for researchers to find
them. We create Dublin- Core item- level records for all
of the materials in our digital collections. The library
currently has a map cataloging project underway.
There is a backlog of manuscript and visual collections
material we are working our way through. Volunteers
are working on databases for two of our large
photographic collections.
What are the top issues facing the Indiana Historical
Society, and historical societies in general, in 2004?
Money and the ever compressing timeframe required to
perform our mission within these monetary constraints
are the top issues facing IHS and historical societies in
general.
How has the Web changed museums, and what impact
has the Web had on the way you run the society?
For the library, the Web has increased the ability
to service long- distance research. People e- mail
questions instead of sending letters. They telephone
the reference desk with questions regarding our online
catalog, or want to order photocopies, or a copy of a
photograph. Our digital images are available through
the Open Archives Initiative ( OAI). We hadn’t been
participating in it long before we were contacted by a
university in Germany saying they had found our site
through it and wanted to establish a link.
Is the museum going online?
The two working together is mutually symbiotic
and beneficial. One supports the other. During the
times that I have worked in what I would call a “ pure
museum”— one with three- dimensional objects— it
OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 13
Politics: Beyond the Ballot Box features Hoosiers who have
lobbied for change, spoken against the status quo, run for
offi ce and made names for themselves on the political scene.
Photo courtesy of Greg Puls
www. oclc. org
Interview: Sal Cilella
was always necessary to link the object back to the
documentary evidence to establish credibility. The
object without the literature or documentation behind
it is merely an object in a vacuum without relation to
anything else, hence the critical importance of the
library and its holdings as our font of information
and knowledge.
How does working with the library community benefit
historical societies and vice versa?
Here at the Indiana Historical Society, we believe that
collaboration is the most efficient and effective way to
proceed in this particular atmosphere. Resources are
stretched thinly, we do not want to
duplicate what others are doing and
we want to provide quick, efficient
quality service. We also do not want
to lose sight of our strong collections
here and as a result wish to promote
them heavily while still paying
attention to costs and the proverbial
bottom line. Collaborating with other
institutions in the digital environment
offers a unique opportunity to bring
together related information that is
held in widespread physical locations.
A digital summit was recently held
at the Indiana State Library, and
discussions are underway for an Indiana Digital Library.
Cultural institutions throughout the state will have the
opportunity to share related material. We intend to be
active participants in this.
Librarians, historians and archivists recognize the
United States Newspaper Project as an innovative
tool in newspaper collection and research. Can you
describe IHS’s experience with this national project?
Our experience with the U. S. Newspaper Project was
very positive, roughly from 1988 to 1996. Of course,
we already had been microfilming newspapers
regularly since 1980, so it was an easy step for us
to take. We had everything in place. Funding from
USNP allowed us to hire more staff and step up
production in what was already a very successful
project and accounts for slightly less than 30% of
the total collection we have built at IHS. We continue
to film newspapers today, and we are very proud as
an institution of the contribution we have made to
preserve the “ first draft of Indiana History” for future
generations of researchers.
Is there a gap between the library world and the
museum world and how do we narrow it?
We are firm believers in the value and role of each type
of institution, and each need to have a clear mission
and stick to it. We are not interested in competing
with each other, but rather in forming cooperative
partnerships. We look to respect
others, as we would have them
respect us in a professional and
personal way, and look for ways to
work together successfully.
IHS has registered some of its digital
collections for harvesting into
WorldCat. What was the rationale
behind this?
Access, access, access. We want
researchers, wherever they are in
the world, to find the materials
and use them.
It seems as if it is “ common knowledge��� that there is
a convergence of libraries, historical societies and
museums taking place in our culture. Do you agree
that a convergence is taking place? What are the key
factors fueling this?
It depends whom you ask. We are converging in
some areas; in some we are miles apart. There is still
a bias in the museum field that some libraries are pure
research institutions with little public outreach. That is
partly true. Here at IHS, we are transitioning from
a pure research institution to one with more of a
museum “ feel.” At the federal level, the old “ Institute
of Museum Services” is now the “ Institute of Museum
and Library Services” so that a real convergence has
taken place there. Here we reach out to both areas
using our strong archival collection to provide the
solid basis of history, which underpins the artifact.
14 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004
Indiana History Center
Photo courtesy of Indiana Historical Society
OCLC Founder, Frederick G. Kilgour,
celebrates 90 years
On January 6, OCLC and the School of Information
and Library Science at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill honored OCLC Founder,
Frederick G. Kilgour, on his 90th birthday.
The celebration included tributes to his career
and contributions to librarianship and a thank- you
to his wife of 63 years, Eleanor, for sharing him
with the library community.
OCLC presented Mr. Kilgour with Volume 3 of
Collected Papers of Frederick G. Kilgour: Later Years.
This volume contains 38 scholarly papers he has
written since OCLC published Volume 2 in 1984.
It includes Mr. Kilgour’s 205th paper, which
was also published in the January 2004 issue
of the Journal of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology. He
published his fi rst scholarly paper in 1938.
OCLC also announced a $ 100,000 gift to establish
the annual OCLC/ Frederick G. Kilgour Lecture at
the School of Information and Library Science at
UNC– Chapel Hill.
Speakers at the celebration included Joe Hewitt,
Associate Provost for University Libraries, UNC–
Chapel Hill; William Crowe, OCLC Board of Trustees,
and Spencer Librarian, Kenneth Spencer Research
Library, University of Kansas; Phyllis Spies, Vice
President, Worldwide Library Services, OCLC;
Joanne Gard Marshall, Dean, School of Information
and Library Science, UNC– Chapel Hill; and
Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO.
In his typical, forward- thinking way, Mr. Kilgour
responded to well- wishers who sang “ Happy
Birthday!” to him: “ On to 100!”
Frederick and Eleanor Kilgour admire the newly published
third volume of Collected Papers of Frederick G. Kilgour.
Collected Papers of Frederick G. Kilgour:
Later Years is available for US $ 40.00 in a
softbound, 288- page volume. Order online
at http:// www3. oclc. org/ documentation/.
A 29- minute streaming video from the
birthday celebration can be viewed at
http:// www. oclc. org/ news/ birthday. htm.
Mr. Kilgour’s birthday cake highlights milestones in his
90 years.
L- R: Joe Hewitt, UNC– Chapel Hill; William Crowe, University
of Kansas; Eleanor Kilgour; Frederick G. Kilgour; Joanne Gard
Marshall, UNC– Chapel Hill; Jay Jordan, OCLC; and
Phyllis Spies, OCLC.
www. oclc. org OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 15
www. oclc. org
Update
http:// dublincore. org/ news/ pr- 20031210. shtml
Mark your calendars
for DC- 2004
The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
( DCMI) will hold its annual
conference October 11– 14 at the
Shanghai Library, the largest public
library in China and a pioneer in
advancing the development and
use of metadata. The 2004 meeting
will focus on metadata research
and applications. DCMI promotes
the widespread adoption of
interoperable metadata standards
and develops specialized metadata
vocabularies for describing
resources that enable more
intelligent information
discovery systems.
http:// www. oclc. org/ worldcat/ goldrecords. htm
54 millionth record
enters WorldCat
Contributed by the Columbus
Metropolitan Library on January 9,
the record was for The End of All
Things to Come, a 2003 publication
of 12 musical scores for guitar and
voice that contains the rock songs
from the musical group Mudvayne’s
second album.
http:// www. oclc. org/ news/ releases/ 2004. htm
Research grant
recipients named
OCLC Research and the Association
for Library and Information Science
Education ( ALISE) have awarded
research grants for 2004 to Corinne
Jorgensen, Florida State University,
Feili Tu and Nancy Zimmerman,
University of South Carolina and
Elizabeth Yakel, University of
Michigan.
• Jorgensen is Associate Professor
at Florida State’s School of
Information Studies. Her project
title is “ Developing A Thesaurus
For Indexing Images Across
Diverse Domains.”
• Feili Tu is Assistant Professor and
Nancy Zimmerman is Associate
Professor at the School of Library
and Information Science at
South Carolina. Their project is
“ Consumer Health Information
Services in American Public
Libraries: An Assessment of
Current Status and Educational
Needs.”
• Elizabeth Yakel, Assistant
Professor at the University of
Michigan School of Information,
will study “ Academic Reference
Librarians and Extending Access
to Primary Sources.”
http:// www. oclc. org/ news/ releases/ 20041. htm
OCLC now offering
services for groups
The new services allow consortia to
build group online union catalogs
and provide resource sharing
and reference services under one
locally customized interface. OCLC
group catalogs are based on library
holdings set in WorldCat. OCLC
creates a catalog from WorldCat
holdings contributed by group
members so that library users can
find what they need close to home.
If users are unable to find what
they need in their local area, they
can expand their search to a larger
region within the group, or to the
entire WorldCat database for what
they need.
http:// www. oclc. org/ ill/
Statsbiblioteket enters
132 millionth ILL request
Created on January 5, the 132
millionth request was for a
book on tape, Queen’s Play.
Statsbiblioteket ( State and
University Library), Århus,
Denmark, is a public library for
research and study and serves as
the main library for the University
of Aarhus and the University
Hospital of Århus. The OCLC
cooperative is celebrating 25 years
of interlibrary loan in 2004. More
than 7,000 libraries use the OCLC
Interlibrary Loan service, which
arranged 9.3 million loans in fiscal
year 2002- 2003.
http:// www. vrd2003. org/ proceedings/ index. cfm
Need info on virtual
reference? Look at
these papers
Two papers, seven handouts and
34 presentations from the Virtual
Reference Desk conference last year
are now available for download.
The conference was held November
17– 18. Among the presentations
and papers:
16 OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004
www. oclc. org
Update
• “ Dynamic Marketing to Targeted
Markets,” by Marianne Bracke,
Science- Engineering Librarian,
University of Arizona
• “ Digital Reference Services,
Not Just Q and A: An Inclusive
Examination of Digital Reference
Services,” by Henry Bankhead,
Graduate Student, San Jose
State University
Other papers not appearing in
the online proceedings will be
published in a print publication
entitled Rounding Out the
Reference Experience: Integrating
Theory and Practice by
Neal- Schuman Publishers, Inc.
in 2004.
http:// www. jisc. ac. uk/ uploaded_
documents/ Metalibcasestudy. doc
JISC study suggests that
library portals boost
database usage
Want a way to help steer users
away from Google and to the
quality resources on your site?
Build a portal— a central access
point to databases— says a
preliminary study commissioned by
the U. K.’ s Joint Information Systems
Committee ( JISC). After launching
a new library portal that provided
simultaneous database searching,
deduping of results and links to full
text, the Loughborough University
Library saw a dramatic increase
in database usage— 609%.
Some databases saw increases
of more than 1,000%.
http:// webjunction. org/ do/ DisplayHomeContent
? url= sitecontent/ focus_ impact. html
Demonstrate your
library’s impact
Learn how to speak to your
community about your library’s
value. The community section at
the WebJunction Web site offers a
lot of information on how libraries—
with a little strategy, presentation
and determination for innovation—
can demonstrate the impact they
have in their communities. Among
the resources:
• “ Roadmap to Demonstrating
Impact,” with step- by- step
solutions from the simple to the
sophisticated;
• A link to the IMLS National
Leadership Grant Tutorial, a
resource that provides the skills,
knowledge, and tools to develop
a good project plan; and
• A collection of 13 journal articles
on demonstrating impact.
http:// www. netlibrary. com/ Help/
netLibrary 2004 debuts
Based on extensive usability testing
and customer feedback, netLibrary
has reengineered its site to ensure
the highest levels of performance
and reliability. Faster page loads,
five language choices and improved
access for users with disabilities
are among the new capabilities, as
well as a streamlined interface that
provides more intuitive navigation
and enhanced search capabilities.
http:// www. mercurynews. com/ mld/
mercurynews/ business/ 7612468. htm
http:// www. redherring. com/ Top10Trends. aspx>
How might these trends
affect your library?
A new year brings with it new
predictions. Here are a few trends
forecast for 2004 by the Mercury
News and Red Herring that might
find their way into your library.
• The laptop replaces the
desktop. Will you need more
outlets for laptops and fewer
personal computers? In 2003,
U. S. computer buyers started
spending more money buying
laptops than desktop computers.
• Bluetooth wireless technology
starts shipping in PCs. Do
you have a wireless network?
Bluetooth, the wireless
technology that replaces
the cables on electronics, is
projected to have a big year
in 2004.
OCLC Newsletter JAN | FEB | MAR 2004 17
A streaming video presentation
of experts discussing next-generation
reference services.
From the OCLC Symposium at
2004 ALA Midwinter.
www. oclc. org/ questionpoint/
OCLC
Newsletter
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U. S. Postage
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Members Council holds February meeting
The OCLC Members Council met February 8– 10 in
Dublin, Ohio to discuss global issues and solutions
to challenges facing libraries worldwide.
Christine Deschamps, Past President of the
International Federation of Library Associations
and Institutions ( IFLA), and former Members
Council delegate and OCLC trustee, shared her
experiences as a participant
in the World Summit on the
Information Society, held
in Geneva, Switzerland, in
December 2003. A panel of
international Members
Council delegates then
reacted to the Summit report
and provided perspective on
challenges facing libraries in
their respective regions of
the world.
Delegates also heard from colleagues who
offered innovative solutions to challenges facing
libraries today. Paul Gherman, Vanderbilt
University, described a cooperative, virtual
storage system in development that will enable
participants to discard duplicate copies of
seldom- used titles that are permanently held by
other participants. Wim van Drimmelen, Koninklijke
Bibliotheek ( KB), discussed the KB e- Depot, an
archive for long- term preservation of electronic
publications held by the KB. Bruce Newell,
Montana State Library, led a panel discussion
on innovative strategies for overcoming
economic challenges.
In a report on OCLC’s pricing structure, Jay Jordan,
OCLC President and CEO, noted that by July 1, 2004,
OCLC will offer subscription pricing for cataloging
and interlibrary loan for all libraries, with
transaction- based pricing still available to
libraries not ready to move to subscription pricing.
A resolution passed by
delegates will add a fourth
delegate- at- large position
to the Members Council
Executive Committee.
Another will add a clause
to the “ Guidelines of the
OCLC WorldCat Principles of
Cooperation” to discourage
unauthorized use of
OCLC- derived records.
At their next conference, May 23– 25, delegates
will elect two new trustees to the OCLC Board from
among four nominees: Ernie Ingles, University of
Alberta; Vickey Johnson, Sunnyvale ( California)
Public Library; Emma Bradford Perry, Southern
University; and Bob Seal, Texas Christian
University. One focus for that conference will
be discussion of the recently published OCLC
Environmental Scan, according to Mr. Seal,
current Members Council President.
