The future for libraries is "absolutely bright," Jay Jordan, OCLC president and CEO,
forecast at the December 18 BCR Board of Trustees meeting. "Working together, we
can take BCR to the next millennium and beyond. This is a great time for BCR
libraries."
Jordan left what he affectionately referred to as "Castle Dublin" to travel to Colorado to
speak to the BCR Board, which is just beginning a review of BCR's strategic priorities and
considering new initiatives for the future. Jordan's topic: the progress OCLC has made in
implementing its strategic plan. Communication and cooperation are his main strategies in
achieving those goals.
Jordan, who has been at OCLC seven months, outlined his primary platform of
cultivating better communication with libraries and library networks. "It's very
important for us to get out in the community," he said. Jordan also stressed
communication in his response to BCR Executive Director Dave Brunell's question
concerning what BCR and other library networks could do to facilitate OCLC's
achieving its strategic initiatives.
"Open communication is important for the future for networks and OCLC... lots
of vigorous, open communication," responded Jordan.
"We need to examine our best practices," he continued, "...and help networks
communicate horizontally across the network. I don't have any problem with vigorous
debates, but we have to come out with solutions."
CORC Project Development Priority Jordan outlined what OCLC has already done
to accomplish its strategic goals -- Integrate, Innovate, Internationalize and Inform.
OCLC achievements include:
- A new web-accessible FirstSearch with new search engine, new interface and
more web linking, to be released early in 1999.
- OCLC leadership in the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative.
- OCLC's pilot project (with the Government Printing Office and National
Library of Education) to make reports from ERIC available to libraries through
the Federal Depository.
- Expansion of WorldCat, with its new Spanish and French interfaces, into a
global resource.
- Founding of the OCLC Institute to provide seminars to help librarians keep up
with continuing changes in information technology.
But OCLC still has much to do, said Jordan. He particularly emphasized the CORC
project -- Cooperative Online Resources Cataloging -- which will explore the cooperative
creation by libraries of a database of Internet resources using automated tools developed by
OCLC.
"I'm very excited about it," Jordan said. "It represents one potential solution for
libraries in that massive web space. This is an opportunity for a high-value solution
for libraries."
OCLC is seeking 100 libraries to sign up to participate in CORC's creation, a goal that
drew praise from BCR Executive Director Brunell and various BCR trustees, who
described the project as a return to OCLC's cooperative origins. CORC Applications
are available at corc@ oclc.org. Read about the CORC project in depth at
www.oclc.org/oclc/research/projects/corc/index.htm.
