OCLC Formally Withdraws WorldCat Policy
Old guidelines will stand until new policy is drafted
Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 6/29/2009
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- Proposed WorldCat policy formally withdrawn
- 1987 guidelines stand
- Board gives recommendations for drafting new policy
As had been widely expected, OCLC announced late Friday the formal withdrawal of a proposed Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records, which was criticized as being overly restrictive and emerging without sufficient consultation. According to OCLC's announcement, "a new group will soon be assembled to begin work to draft a new policy with more input and participation from OCLC membership."
Until then, the "Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records" will continue to govern WorldCat data exchange, as it has since 1987.
The report concludes, "a policy is needed. However, the proposed policy is sufficiently flawed that a fresh start is necessary." Jennifer Younger, director of Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame, presented essentially the same conclusion in her report on the board's finding on behalf of OCLC's Review Board on Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship to the OCLC Members Council on May 18.
Recommendations
Weaving together many of the survey responses mentioned at the Member's Council presentation, the final report presents five recommendations:
- Officially withdraw the proposed policy and develop a new policy
- To form a clear and coherent foundation for a new policy, revisit, reaffirm, and document the social contract between OCLC and its members
- Develop and maintain a new policy through a consultative, transparent process
- Recommend desirable elements of a new policy
- Develop a policy to enable expanding the role and value of WorldCat in the broad information ecosystem.
The policy elicited criticism from the library community on blogs and mailing lists right from its initial leak and release in late October and early November of 2008. (For a timeline of reaction to the proposed policy, see the code4lib wiki.)
However, in recent months, several library organizations have issued formal statements criticizing the move.
Included with the final report are links to or copies of the responses from five library organizations: the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), the Ad Hoc Task Force of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) [PDF], the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) [copied in the report], the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC), and the Online Audiovisual Catalogers (OLAC) [PDF].
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