OCLC

OCLC, Inc. is an American nonprofit library cooperative based in Dublin, Ohio. Founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, it provides shared cataloging, metadata, discovery, resource-sharing, and library-management services to libraries worldwide.

OCLC began as a state-level effort to reduce duplicated cataloging work among Ohio academic libraries through a shared computerized system. It expanded nationally and then internationally as libraries adopted its online cataloging network, and its shared database developed into WorldCat. From the 1980s onward, OCLC broadened from cataloging infrastructure into classification, discovery, interlibrary loan, access authentication, digital collections, and linked-data services. The organization formally changed its legal name to OCLC, Inc. in 2017.

History

Founding and shared cataloging, 1967-1977

OCLC began in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, a nonprofit cooperative created by Ohio college and university leaders to explore computerized library cataloging. The group signed articles of incorporation on July 5, 1967, at Ohio State University and hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, as its first executive director.

Kilgour and Ralph H. Parker, head of libraries at the University of Missouri, had proposed a shared cataloging system in a 1965 report to the Committee of Librarians of the Ohio College Association. Kilgour later described the plan as an effort to combine computer-based information storage and retrieval with library cataloging in order to reduce duplication and improve access across institutions. As OCLC expanded outside the United States, its governance structure was modified again in 2002 to accommodate international participation.

OCLC's shared cataloging database developed into WorldCat, a union catalog built from bibliographic records contributed by participating libraries. The growth of WorldCat made OCLC's original cataloging network a broader bibliographic infrastructure used for cataloging, discovery, and resource sharing.

Service expansion and governance changes, 2002-present

During the 2000s and 2010s, OCLC expanded beyond shared cataloging into discovery, resource sharing, electronic-resource management, access authentication, digital-collection hosting, and linked-data services. Acquisitions and product development added services such as EZproxy, CONTENTdm, WorldShare Management Services, WorldCat Discovery, and the Virtual International Authority File.

In 2017, OCLC formally changed its legal name from OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. to OCLC, Inc.

Funding and pricing model

OCLC is funded primarily through fees paid by participating libraries and other institutions for access to its services. Its revenue comes from subscriptions and service charges for cataloging, metadata, discovery, resource-sharing, authentication, and library-management products. The suit was dropped in 2013 after Innovative Interfaces acquired SkyRiver.

Presidents

The following people have served as president of OCLC:

1967-1980: Frederick G. Kilgour
1980-1989: Rowland C. W. Brown
1989-1998: K. Wayne Smith
1998-2013: Jay Jordan
2013-present: Skip Prichard

Services and systems

OCLC's services developed from its original shared cataloging network. The organization continues to provide cataloging and metadata infrastructure while also operating discovery, resource-sharing, authentication, digital-collection, and linked-data services for libraries.

Cataloging and metadata services

OCLC provides shared cataloging and metadata services that allow libraries to create, reuse, and maintain bibliographic records. These services are the direct continuation of the cooperative cataloging model that led to OCLC's creation.

Library management and discovery systems

OCLC provides library-management and discovery systems, including WorldShare Management Services and WorldCat Discovery. These services support library functions such as acquisitions, circulation, electronic-resource management, interlibrary loan, and patron discovery.

OCLC has also operated CONTENTdm for digital collections, EZproxy for access authentication, and Tipasa for interlibrary loan management. CONTENTdm has been discussed in library technology literature as a digital-collection management system, while EZproxy became part of OCLC through a 2008 acquisition.

Identifiers and linked data

OCLC assigns a unique control number, called an OCLC Control Number, to each new bibliographic record in WorldCat. In 2013, OCLC declared the control numbers to be in the public domain, allowing wider reuse outside OCLC systems.

OCLC also runs the Virtual International Authority File, an international name authority file overseen by a council of representatives from contributing institutions.

In 2024, OCLC launched Meridian, a linked-data management tool for creating, curating, and connecting linked-data entities.

Research and advocacy

OCLC Research has published reports, articles, and presentations on library operations, metadata, discovery, and information access. During the COVID-19 pandemic, OCLC participated in the REopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which studied surface transmission risks on library, archive, and museum materials.

OCLC has also operated library training and advocacy programs. WebJunction, a training service for library staff, has operated as an OCLC program with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. OCLC has collaborated with the Wikimedia Foundation and volunteer Wikimedia communities through metadata integration, a Wikipedian-in-residence program, and the WebJunction training program Wikipedia + Libraries: Better Together. In 2006, the Research Libraries Group merged with OCLC, adding research-library programs and data services.

OCLC acquired EZproxy in 2008, expanding its role in library access authentication.

In 2015, OCLC acquired Sustainable Collection Services, a collection-analysis business focused on print collection management. In 2017, it acquired Relais International, a provider of interlibrary-loan and resource-sharing services. In 2024, OCLC acquired the cloudLibrary digital-content platform, adding an e-book, audiobook, digital magazine, and streaming-media lending service for libraries.

Criticism and data-use policy

Market-share questions have also appeared in discussions of library technology. In a 2019 analysis for Ithaka S+R, Roger C. Schonfeld wrote that Ex Libris, following its acquisition of Innovative Interfaces, had become the dominant supplier of integrated library system services in the United States, with more than 70 percent market share among academic libraries and more than 50 percent among public libraries, compared with about 10 percent for OCLC in both sectors.

OCLC has been criticized over competition and data-use policies. In 2008, librarian Jeffrey Beall criticized OCLC for monopolistic practices and other concerns in an essay in Radical Cataloging. Other library commentators disputed parts of Beall's critique while acknowledging that some concerns about OCLC's role in library infrastructure were substantive.

In November 2008, OCLC issued a proposed Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records that would have required member libraries to include an OCLC policy note on bibliographic records. The policy drew criticism from librarians and open-data advocates, including concerns that it would restrict projects such as Open Library, Zotero, and Wikipedia. OCLC withdrew the proposed policy and created a review board after criticism from the library community.

References

External links

Hanging Together, OCLC Research blog
OCLC Annual Reports collection at the OCLC Archives