OCLC

Libraries are already catalysts for our communities in so many ways. I look forward to finding out about how you’re leveraging those strengths as you plan for the future. And I want to explore how we, as OCLC members, can help transform our own organization to better serve the wider community of library users around the world, both today and into the future. I hope you’ll join us at the regional conference nearest you.

Earlier this year, OCLC published a great list based on our own original research: The Library 100—Top Novels of All Time. It’s a list of the novels that more libraries have on their shelves than any others.

I wrote in OCLC Next last year about “container collapse” and how many people are having a hard time evaluating the value of online research results. Students think that being able to identify high-quality materials is important. They also believe they are good at it—though our findings suggest they actually aren’t. Some more recent research, though, indicates that librarians can make a difference.

I’ve been talking about linked data a lot lately. Before you say, “Oh, that’s so five minutes ago,” let’s frame linked data technologies and principles as a technology trend in libraries that continues to get (and deserves) extra attention. I’m naturally skeptical when libraries try to apply new technologies to long-solved problems, but I am now thoroughly convinced that the library needs linked data platforms.