Global library cooperative OCLC, US, has announced that its board of trustees has convened a Record Use Policy Council. The council will draw upon the fundamental values of the OCLC cooperative and engage with libraries worldwide to develop the next generation of the WorldCat Record Use Policy. The intent is to recommend a new policy that is aligned with the present and future information landscape. The new policy will replace the Guidelines for Use and Transfer of OCLC Derived Records that was developed in 1987.
The formation of this council was one of the recommendations contained in the final report of the OCLC Review Board on the Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship. This report was formed in January 2009 to represent the membership and inform OCLC on best practices for sharing library data.
The Policy Council is also charged with carrying out the other recommendations contained in the final report, including development of a policy to enable expanding the role and value of WorldCat in the broad information ecosystem. The members of the OCLC Record Use Policy Council have agreed to undertake a significant body of work to canvass the current and future information needs of the library community and provide a broad and inclusive set of perspectives and experiences.
Over the next seven months, the council will review key values and principles underlying the current guidelines developed in 1987; develop success criteria for a revised policy or guidelines; conduct and disseminate the results of an environmental scan of data-sharing policies; evaluate findings from the environmental scan and draft a new policy and recommendations for implementation; and develop a formal, transparent and well-managed process for vetting the new draft policy with the OCLC Regional Councils and the OCLC Global Council as the representatives of the OCLC membership.
The Record Use Policy Council will begin its work soon. The group will define an approach and timeline to carry out this charge. The council will submit a new draft policy and recommendations for implementation to the Chair of the OCLC board of trustees and OCLC President and CEO, for review and approval by the trustees in midyear 2010.
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