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We would like to thank you for working with us over the past year and wish you all the best for the holidays and the New Year. We look forward to a successful 2007 together with you.
‘Enquire’
online reference service moves into new phase
In a resounding endorsement
of the People’s Network Enquire service, more than 60% of
English library authorities have committed to participate in its
second phase to March 2009. The outstanding service libraries have
delivered to the public through Enquire will continue to foster
a growing online community who seek and value the trusted, high-quality
information services that only libraries can provide. The Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council MLA, on behalf of library authorities
in England, has decided to continue and expand the collaboration with OCLC PICA. As technology partner-supplier
during Phase I, OCLC PICA was invited to assume full responsibility for Enquire management
and development over the next phase from 1st November 2006 until
31st March 2009.
Enquire, as one of the three People’s Network services (www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/),
offers information seekers a live, interactive question and answer
service. It sets a marker for public library services online, bringing
professional librarian expertise and guidance to the public at their
point of need. Through the collective commitment of participating
libraries, in collaboration with international partners, Enquire
is available 24 hours a day, every day.
 Since the service was launched in May 2005, Enquire has answered
more than 17,000 questions, becoming a valuable tool for a variety
of users from school children to freelance researchers.
Enquire is delivered using the QuestionPoint reference management
platform from technology partner OCLC PICA. As well as providing
the chat tools for communicating with users, QuestionPoint supports
the collaborative working between librarians that Enquire needs
to provide a 24 hour service. For example, librarians may communicate
with each other, transfer calls and follow-up offline by having
QuestionPoint email further information after a live interaction
has ended.
Link to full
press release.
OLIB
7.6.1 released
The latest version of
OLIB, OLIB 7.6.1, was released at the end of October. OLIB 7.6.1
is a consolidation release following the launch of OLIB 7.6.0 in
the summer. The focus of this release is on a small number of enhancements,
together with the usual round of bug fixes.
The biggest change is in the way the SDI (Selective Dissemination
of Information) service is provided. For the first time, users will
be able to define more than one SDI profile, and they can also specify
the frequency of their SDI alerts. In addition, users can enter
a free-text search string as the basis of an SDI profile instead
of a list of general subject headings.
OLIB 7.6.1 also includes a wider range of email alerts, e.g. held
reservation notifications and notifications of issues recently checked
in. It is also possible to include a link to OCLC's Open WorldCat
from a record in WebView.
Please contact your account manager for further details of the release
and to discuss an upgrade.
Dutch
WSF libraries opt for CONTENTdm
The Dutch Haarlem public
library, the Maastricht public library and Tresoar (Frisian historical and literary centre) in Leeuwaren
have decided to jointly acquire CONTENTdm software. With this package
they can publish and manage digital collections online. These three
regional academic support (WSF) libraries will jointly use one CONTENTdm
licence to make heritage collections better accessible on the Internet.
Tresoar will act as hosting organisation for all three.
Photo: Mrs. Skolnik of WSF and Mr. Van Charldorp of
OCLC PICA have also signed an agreement
to the effect that the 14 Dutch public libraries with academic support function (WSF libraries) will be the first in the Netherlands to participate in the Open WorldCat programme.
Insight
into virtual reference services
At the beginning of November
OCLC PICA held an information day on virtual reference services
for Higher Education institutions in the UK. It turned out to be
a great day with so many of you coming along to find out about using
virtual reference as part of library services. Our thanks to Rodney
Amis, Kings College London, Andy Dodds, University of Birmingham
and Linda Berube from Co-East who all gave valuable insight into
the their experience of virtual reference services and the benefits
of managing enquiries in real-time using up-to-date technologies
such as chat and co-browsing. For those of you that were unable
to make it, we are looking at possible dates and venues in the UK
for another information session next year. If you would be interested
in attending please let us know by e-mailing Georgina Devane g.devane@oclcpica.org
and we’ll make sure that we keep you informed. For those of
you outside the UK interested in finding out more please contact
info@oclcpica.org.
WorldCat
expands with the addition of BSZ
The Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum
Baden Württemberg (BSZ) in Konstanz (Germany) has chosen to
make the bibliographic and holding information of the Südwestdeutschen
Bibliotheksverbund Baden Württemberg, Saarland and Saxonia
available in WorldCat to reap the benefits of making their collection
and services more visible to more people.
The agreement was signed between BSZ, represented by Mrs. Dr. Mallmann-Biehler (photo left),
and OCLC PICA, represented by Mrs. Magin-Weeger (right), on November 23
during the BSZ-Kolloquium.
With this new addition, more than 12 million bibliographic records
and in excess of 47.5 million holdings from over 1,200 academic
libraries can be searched and found in WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.
Furthermore, owing to OCLC’s association with some of the
best-known search engine providers, this information will also be
available on Google, Yahoo and Ask.
German
Exiles Archive Catalogue online
The German National Library
has integrated a Catalogue for the German Exiles Archive 1933-1945
in its website by adapting its CBS system. The extension of the
OCLC PICA system with a number of data fields meets the special
requirements of an archive catalogue and at the same time offers
the normal use of the search engine. This shows how users of the
CBS can adapt it to their own usage and needs, years after its implementation.
OLIB
7.3 and OLIB 7.4 de-support
OLIB 7.3 will be de-supported
at the end of 2006, in line with our de-support schedule and as
announced in last year's letter to customers. At the end of 2006,
we will also be sending out a letter formally announcing the de-support
of OLIB 7.4 at the end of 2007, which will give customers who are
still on OLIB 7.4 a full 12 months to arrange to upgrade to the
latest release.
OLIB 7.3 was released in April 2003, and there have been 3 more
annual releases since then. OLIB 7.4 will have had a similar shelf
life of 3.5 years by the time it is de-supported.
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Open
WorldCat Update
Joining Open WorldCat
- which enables access to your library’s records in WorldCat
via search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc. - is really taking off
in Europe. Many more libraries and groups have started participating
since summer 2006, by agreeing to load their records and holdings
into WorldCat: GBV, HeBIS, BSZ, DNB, BSB (all Germany), NUKAT (Poland),
Leicester University (UK), Malmö Stadsbibliothek (Sweden) and
Russian State Library. The record loading has also become apparent
in the catalogue size: between end of August and mid December 2006,
WorldCat grew from 71 to almost 77 million records.
OCLC PICA has now completed the European pilot of Open WorldCat
with a group of UK and Dutch libraries that tested the European
enhancements – interface translations, post code data and
“buy it” options. The pilot provided us with valuable
input for the next steps. For example, we have since taken the decision
to integrate Open WorldCat into our Discovery Services (initially
FirstSearch and PiCarta, and later UnityUK). A further step will
address linking OCLC PICA Delivery, ILS and ILL services.
Upcoming Open WorldCat events:
- OCLC PICA will host a series of roadshows
in Spring 2007 to explore WorldCat, WorldCat.org (launched August
2006) and Open WorldCat with our customers – to register
your interest, click here.
- A further (Dutch) buy it option Bol.com
will become available in January 2007.
Service
Desk improvements for 2007
As part of our commitment
to improving customer services, we are upgrading our Support Call
Management System. We aim to offer a coherent support service across
the range of OCLC PICA products. From end January 2007, customers
supported by the Netherlands Service Desk will notice an updated
look and feel to the online interface for logging and tracking calls.
In Spring 2007, the improved online interface will be rolled out
to customers supported by Service Desks in UK, Germany, USA, and
Australia/New Zealand. The benefits of the Online Service Desk include
24/7 call logging, and easy tracking of call status.
German
library cooperative HeBIS participates in Open WorldCat
At the end of October,
Berndt Dugall (director of HeBIS and chief librarian of the Frankfurt
University, photo right) and Rein van Charldorp of OCLC PICA (left) signed an agreement
to load the records of the 26 HeBIS libraries into WorldCat. This
loading arrangement concerns about 5.5 million titles. Testing the
data format conversion will take place early in 2007, with the loading
itself following later in the year.
Fast,
customised evaluation of library holdings
The new OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis
service makes it possible for library staff responsible for collection
management to analyse the age and subject content of their own collections,
compare their collections with those of peer libraries, and compare,
as a group, the level of overlap or uniqueness of their collections.
The service is designed to provide the most cost effective way to
routinely evaluate collections. It enables library staff to communicate
collection decisions to faculty, boards of trustees and administrators,
as well as demonstrate financial needs and responsible stewardship
of library acquisitions, budgets and collections.
WorldCat is the world’s richest database of items held in
libraries, comprising more than 58 million records that represent
nearly 1 billion holdings. The WorldCat database grows at the rate
of one new record every 10 seconds. The OCLC WorldCat Collection
Analysis service provides tools for libraries to mine the deep,
rich database that thousands of librarians worldwide collectively
maintain as part of their daily workflow.
The WorldCat Collection Analysis service allows library staff to
view and analyzer the age and content of their own collections by
subject, and compare their library’s holdings with the holdings
of peer libraries, and limit the analysis to specific subject areas.
For example, an academic library considering an Italian language
program might compare its collection to other college libraries
already offering such a program. Or, a public library might want
to demonstrate the strength of its small business management collection
by comparing its holdings with those of peer libraries.
For more information on
WorldCat Collection Analysis please visit http://www.oclc.org/collectionanalysis/.
The
UnityUK service - 8 months on
The service behind the
UK's biggest resource sharing service - UnityUK - has processed
more than 19,000 requests since the service went live in April 2006.
OCLC PICA have worked closely with The Combined Regions to work
with subscribing libraries to develop the service according to the
libraries' workflows and requirements. Each of the regions has had
at least 1 user group, and another round is planned in February
and March 2007.
Visit www.combinedregions.com
for more information on the service
Sheffield
office passes ISO-9001 compliance again
November saw another visit
from our ISO-9001 auditors who inspect OCLC PICA Ltd twice a year
to check on our compliance to the standard. No issues were raised
and the improvements we have put into practice since the last visit
were commended. We hope you will see the benefit of this in the
services we deliver to you. As always we are committed to satisfying
- and preferably exceeding - our customers' expectations of the
products and services that we provide.
This
year at Online Information 2006
Photo (left to right): Mark Carden (sales director,
OCLC PICA), Janet Lees (community liaison, OCLC PICA) and Jay Jordan (president and CEO, OCLC) at Online Information 2007.
This year has been another
busy Online Information 2006. It was great to see so many familiar
faces again at the show and lots of new ones also. A warm thanks
to all those who came to our drinks reception on Wednesday afternoon,
it’s always nice to catch up with friends and colleagues at
Online and what better excuse than over drinks and nibbles. A number
of OCLC and OCLC PICA colleagues were on hand over the three days
to talk to, if you did not get a chance to speak to one of them
or were not able to attend the show please e-mailing us via info@oclcpica.org
and we will make sure someone gets in touch with you.
We look forward to seeing you again at next year’s Online
Information, 4-6 December 2007.
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