Global library cooperative OCLC, US, has announced that libraries in Australia have began pilot projects to implement OCLC WorldShare Management Services just weeks after the company began operating a new data center in Sydney. OCLC WorldShare Management Services is the cooperative’s new cloud-based approach to managing library services that provide tools to improve library workflows, reduce costs and offer new opportunities for collaboration.
OCLC WorldShare Management Services provide a Web-based environment that streamlines cataloguing, acquisitions, license management and circulation, and offer a next-gen discovery tool for library users.
Both replacing and standing apart from traditional integrated library systems, OCLC WorldShare Management Services enable libraries to share infrastructure costs and resources, as well as collaborate in ways that free them from the restrictions of local hardware and software. WorldShare Management Services also offer the ability to manage collections of print, electronic and digital material from start-to-finish, and the integration of license management features into interlibrary loan processes set WorldShare apart from legacy systems.
OCLC staff in Melbourne are responsible for implementing and supporting WorldShare Management Services in libraries in Australia and New Zealand. Staff in Melbourne have been working closely with OCLC staff around the world to prepare them for implementation of the new services in Australian libraries. This team has extensive experience in supporting libraries in the region. The team supports 400 libraries using Amlib library management software, as well as VDX implementations, many of which are large, state-wide groups hosted by OCLC.
In March 2012, OCLC began operating a new data center in Sydney, Australia, to support OCLC WorldShare Management Services for members in Australia and New Zealand. The Sydney center is the fourth data center in OCLC's global network. OCLC opened a data center in the UK in December 2011 and maintains two primary operations data centers in the US.
The Sydney center employs state-of-the-art technologies to ensure high levels of performance, reliability, scalability and cost-effectiveness. Key facilities features include high-performance Internet services with multiple service providers to ensure efficient routing, fully redundant heating and cooling systems, continuous power from multiple sources, and best-of-breed security controls and practices.
In addition, the new center enables OCLC to comply with access and data privacy requirements in Australia and New Zealand, and adhere to technical standards that promote the cost-effective, worldwide sharing of information across platforms, and support scripts, languages and cultural materials. OCLC recently obtained its ISO 27001 certification which bolsters the position of trust in OCLC-hosted solutions and will assure the security of member data.
