OCLC is building web-scale capabilities with libraries by focusing on data, community, and infrastructure. It is developing an open and extensible platform built on WorldCat that will provide responsive services at massive scale. This platform will allow libraries to innovate, expose and share applications, and benefit from others' innovations. Currently, OCLC provides global exposure through WorldCat.org, discovery through WorldCat Local, and circulation and acquisitions capabilities. It is also developing knowledge base management, license management, and an open platform for third-party development. OCLC aims to collaboratively build web-scale services with libraries to reduce costs and workflows through its cooperative approach.

1. OCLC Strategic Direction:
ACURIL
Collaboratively Building
June 1, 2011 Web-Scale with Libraries
Bruce Crocco
Vice President, Library Services for the Americas

2. Collaboratively Building Web-Scale with
Libraries
• What is Web-Scale?
• Is it the same as “The Cloud”?
• Examples of Web-Scale
• Data, Community, Infrastructure
• OCLC and Web-Scale
• Data, Community, Infrastructure
• OCLC Product Strategy
• Libraries building Web-Scale for Libraries
• Where is OCLC today...

4. And Scale Matters…
In a web-economy the rich get richer and…
=>
Web Scale is critical for libraries

5. Web-Scale and Cloud Computing
A style of computing in which
scalable and elastic IT-enabled
capabilities are delivered as a
service to external customers
using Internet technologies.
-Gartner Group
Simple: Web-based applications delivered remotely.
Cloud = Infrastructure
Web-Scale is more than just Infrastructure

6. Web-Scale : examples
Infrastructure
Data Community

7. Libraries and Web-Scale?
Infrastructure
Data Community

8. OCLC: Collaboratively Building Web-Scale
with Libraries
Infrastructure
Data Community

9. Data: WorldCat Growth since 1998
Millions of records
230
200
170
150
139
100 108
86
67
50 61
50 52 55
44 47
39 41
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

10. Data: WorldCat across Print, License and
Digital Data
1.9 billion items and growing!
Physical holdings Licensed digital content in Local library content being
in WorldCat library collections digitized
170 million bib records 325 million electronic 30 million items
database records (Google, HathiTrust, OAIster)
3.6 million digital items
1.5 billion holdings
NEW!
JSTOR Metadata:
4.5 million records

11. Infrastructure: OCLC Product Strategy
Open and Extensible Platform
built on an extended view of
WorldCat.
• “Open” – 3rd-party systems can make use of
core services in a supplier-neutral manner –
supporting the widest possible reach of the co-
operative and use of the platform.
• Extensible” – users, third-party suppliers and
the library development community can add
services and applications – fostering collective
innovation.
• “Extended View of WorldCat” – the collection
of databases that represent data for purchased,
licensed and digital content, exposed through a
rich range of network-level data services.

12. Design for Web-Scale
Goals Architecture Features
Responsive Service Partition by
Judicious
Oriented data and
Caching
Architecture domain Embrace
Open
Massively Standards
Scalable “Shared Network
savvy APIs Optimistic
Nothing”
Locking
Architecture
Stateless
Highly Asynch. Services Highly
Fault Transactions Layered
Tolerant
Versioned
APIs Discoverable Data
Services Redundancy
Suitable for Replication Temporary Avoid
Public & Failover data Distributed
Consumption inconsistency Transactions

13. Design for Economy
• Reduced Systems Costs • Reduced Workflow Costs
• Design for scale => Lower • Cataloguing
cost subscription services
• Acquisitions
• Circ/ILL
• Reduce Running Costs • Knowledge Base
• IT Infrastructure Management
• IT Management • Vendor Management
• Upgrade cycles... • ...
Cloud
Web-Scale

14. Community: The OCLC Cooperative
72,035 libraries in 171 countries
1,418
5,715
55,820
4,058
1,752
1,091
1,800
381

15. The Cooperative Platform
I want to
I want to I want to
I Iwant to
want to
innovate and
Innovate expose and
expose benefit from
Integrate share
share others’
integrate
innovations
innovations innovations
Ability to Ability to Ability to find &
create apps publish apps install apps
(Service Catalog) (App Gallery)
Business Logic Services
Core Data Services
Registry KBWC WorldCat Identifiers X-ID …
Ability to share
(Community Site)
Data Layer

16. Current Status...
• Global Library Exposure : WorldCat.org
• Search-engine syndication; Google books; affiliate sites...
• >1M referrals to libraries/month
• Discovery to Delivery : WorldCat Local
• ~1200 libraries live with WorldCat Local
• Circulation & Acquisitions
• 14 sites live now.
• Knowledge Base Management
• Available Now. Free as part of cataloguing
• License Management
• Pilot Started Jan 2011. General Availability July 1
• Open Platform
• DevNet now; Pilot March; Full Platform mid-2011

17. OCLC Strategic Direction:
ACURIL
Collaboratively Building
June 1, 2011 Web-Scale with Libraries
Bruce Crocco
Vice President, Library Services for the Americas