OCLC Research is helping libraries meet the challenges of the Digital Age

The OCLC Office of Research has added significant value for OCLC members since its founding in 1978. FirstSearch, SiteSearch, Electronic Collections Online, PURLs, and NetFirst are just a few of the innovations that got their start in OCLC Research and have gone on to benefit member libraries around the world.

The 30 staff members in the Office of Research have diverse backgrounds in such fields as library science, computer science, electrical and industrial engineering, linguistics, pharmacology and physics. Their formal mission is to "expand knowledge that advances the goal of OCLC’s commitment to improving access to the world’s information resources--whatever their form, substance, subject, language or location." They pursue that mission by performing experiments, building prototypes, advancing standards, undertaking studies and participating in research collaborations.

OCLC researchers are focusing on systems to help libraries cope with the World Wide Web as well as more traditional areas of library endeavor such as database quality, cataloging, classification, reference and resource sharing. They also serve as advocates for the library community in the development of standards such as the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (a set of elements for building universally usable resource descriptions) and the Resource Description Framework (an emerging World Wide Web Consortium standard for interoperability on the Web). It is no exaggeration to say that their work is helping to shape the future of librarianship and library service.

This issue of the OCLC Newsletter takes an in-depth look at one of the most ambitious and exciting research projects ever undertaken at OCLC--CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog). More than 80 volunteer libraries are working with OCLC to extend the WorldCat shared cataloging model to the new electronic resources on the World Wide Web.

Some people describe the Web as the world’s largest library, with all the books on the floor. CORC is a collaborative effort by OCLC member libraries to get those books off the floor and up where people can find them rapidly and easily. It is yet another way that OCLC research is advancing the boundaries of knowledge in library and information science and helping libraries meet the challenges of the Digital Age.

Jay Jordan
President and Chief Executive Officer
OCLC