From the Director's Desk - OCLC Members Council ReportPrepared by Beverly Obert, Executive Director Rolling Prairie Library System October 31, 2006 |
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OCLC Members Council ReportOct. 28 - Arrived in Dublin Ohio at 7 PM. Checked into the Marriot and went to the Bonefish Grill for supper. Oct. 29 - Attended the Small and Rural Library Discussion Group. Conversations centered around what constitutes a small or rural library; location, population served, income or a combination of all of the above. The second point was what role does OCLC have, if any, in the development or creation of libraries globally in rural areas. 10 am – 11: 45 am New Delegates Orientation 4-5 pm The new delegates were welcomed by Ernie Ingles, President of Members Council and Sandy Yee, Vice-resident of Members Council. Bill Crow, a member of the OCLC Board of Trustees, gave the new delegates an overview of the roles of the OCLC Board of Trustees. Six members of that Board are elected from the Members Council Shannon Berhorst, Chair of RONDAC (Regional OCLC Network Directors Advisory Committee) reviewed for the delegates RONDAC and Council roles plus delegate/network communications. Each new delegate is assigned a mentor. Anne Prestamo, Librarian at Oklahoma State University is my mentor. Opening General Session 5:30 – 7 pm Ernie Ingles, Gave a welcome and President’s Report to the Members Council. Sandy Yee, Chair of the Finance Committee, gave a brief financial report. Ian MacPherson, Executive Director BC Institute for Co-operative Studies gave a presentation “Enduring Values: Cooperation and Global Impact.” He stated that Cooperatives are an International movement. There are 750,000 cooperatives with 800 million members. 300+ different kinds of cooperatives have been identified. Where does the origins of cooperation come from? Cooperative behavior is basic to the human species and also to animals. The kinds of cooperation that have been identified are—automatic, spontaneous, traditional, directed, contractual. Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others. In the U.S. one of the first formal co-ops was the First mutual;. 1752” : Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire--Ben Franklin. Credit Unions are the most successful and long lasting of co-ops in the U.S. Development of cooperative organizations follow several patterns. One is-- Formative→stabilizing→building→(Re-examining→Reformating)2. Another is Culture, Conception, Class, Context. The one Ian focused on was that of Cooperative Stewardship. In this model one looks at the membership, the community, the State (how does the government impact the cooperative), Sector (other cooperatives), Management of the cooperative. Cooperatives that fail do so when they fail to recognize stewardship in all roles. Dinner 7-8:30 pm Oct. 30 - Traveled to the OCLC Smith Conference Center for Continental Breakfast. There was a demonstration and discussion on Advanced Digitization Capabilities from 8:15-8:55 am. The OCLC Preservation Service Center presented and covered OCR Processing through docWORKS and presentation via ContentDM. Public & School Libraries Discussion Group 9 - 10:00 am. The group discussed the following questions. What is the business of OCLC? What values influence the cooperative and what needed changes ahead, if any, does Members Council foresee in the values for the OCLC Cooperative? General Session 10:30- 12:00 Noon The Council heard a financial report from Rick Schwieterman, Vice President and CF, and the OCLC President’s Report by Jay Jordan, President and CEO A group picture of the Members Council was taken and we had lunch. Processing the Library Landscape: Creating a Shared View was the next presentation by Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC Vice President, Research and Chief Strategist. Lorcan talked about a Service Framework. What we do and how we do it. What processes are important to standardize. Reference Services Interest Group Discussion 1:45-3:00 pm. There was an update on Question Point 24/7 and a presentation from Southeastern Louisiana University on opportunities and challenges in providing reference by text messaging. General Session 3:15 – 5:30 pm Enhancement and Expansion: the OCLC PICA Strategy. OCLC PICA is a Service Center that provides OCLC services to Europe, Africa, and Australia. It continues to grow in the number of large libraries that are adding their collections to OCLC World Cat. What’s Developed Since the OCLC-RLG Merger? Gave an update to what has been happening. How they are integrating the services of RLG into OCLC. There are some neat databases that will become available in the future. Supper with central US network groups, i.e. Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, etc. There was for an appetizer, Calamari, Mushroom covered Bruschetta, and Ravioli. Salads: Chopped Salad and Insalata Mista. The Entrees were Grilled Salmon, Wood-Fired Chicken Marsala and Pasta BRAVO! Desert, Tiramisu, Crème Brule, and cheesecake and wine. This was soooo Good!! Oct. 31 - Reference Services Interest Group Discussions 8:30 – 9:30 The discussion centered around new electronic devices and how they are being used or not used in Reference services. Topics were brought up for research and discussion at future meetings. Public and School Libraries Group Discussion 9:45 – 10:45 Discussion continued from Monday with the questions “What do delegates think are the results expected from a non-profit, business-like global collaborative?” and “What is the evolving and future role of Members Council in the OCLC global library collaborative? A large chunk of the session covered how can schools be encouraged to participate in OCLC and members council. Business Meeting 11-11:30 am A resolution had been brought to the group on Sunday and tabled until February. There had been confusion on what this meant and Ernie clarified the issue. 1:30 – 2:30 pm in the OCLC Kilgour Building Atrium they held a “Celebration of Life Service for Frederick G. Kilgour (1914-2006). Mr. Kilgour was the founder of OCLC, its President for many years and member of the Board. He was a remarkable man. The service was well done and gave you an understanding of the man, his work, and his passion for libraries. 2:45 pm--Hit the road for Illinois. Rolling Prairie Library System |
