OCLC signs 4 overseas deals for WorldCat

Business First of Columbus

OCLC Inc. is adding millions of records to its global online library network following four recent deals with libraries and institutions in Europe and the Middle East.

The Dublin nonprofit, formerly Online Computer Library Center, unveiled a spate of deals this week that it says boosts the collection of records in its WorldCat database and in turn raises the profile of the groups signing on. Details on the deals, financial terms of which weren’t disclosed, included:

• Denmark’s Dansk BiblioteksCenter has agreed to load the Danish National Union Catalogue onto WorldCat. The deal follows a year-long pilot program with the Danish Agency for Libraries and Media government organization that is adding 10 million records to WorldCat. OCLC said Danish citizens also will have access to WorldCat through a service managed by BiblioteksCenter.

• Switzerland’s Informationsverbund Deutschschweiz, which also includes the national libraries of Luxembourg and Lichtenstein, is loading about 10 million records onto WorldCat.

• IZUM, a consortium of 380 libraries and other groups in Slovenia, has committed to load 3 million records later this year to WorldCat.

• Israel’s MALMAD, a digital consortium of more than 30 institutions, signed a deal to load information on its library holdings onto WorldCat.

Rein van Charldorp, managing director of OCLC’s Europe, Middle East and Asia division, said in a release that the deals “show that libraries from around the globe are responding very positively to the opportunity that WorldCat offers to streamline (work flow) and increase visibility in WorldCat.org.”

OCLC more than two years ago reorganized its Dublin headquarters in order to place more focus on the global market. WorldCat, which hit the Internet the year before, now links 71,000 libraries in 112 countries worldwide. OCLC ranks as one of the 100 largest employers in Central Ohio, with about 800 employees in the region and 1,300 worldwide. The company in the year ended June 30, 2008, recorded $246 million in revenue.