OCLC Partner Choices

BCR announced late last week that it would be shutting down its operations earlier than planned and what that means to its members. One of the major changes in the process is that, starting in August, OCLC invoices will be sent directly by OCLC unless a library requests that OCLC transfer it to a Partner organization. Several Partners have sent out information about their organizations to Nebraska libraries. Whether a library chooses to transfer to one of them or not is a local decision and there is not a single correct answer. No OCLC Partner may charge for only OCLC invoicing; however, membership fees are generally required to take advantage of other products and services offered by a Partner. LYRASIS is still offering a year of free membership (through June 30,2011) to current BCR members. Questions have been raised about what OCLC Partners offer that differs from the Nebraska Library Commission. There is quite a bit of overlap. Although the Commission no longer deals with most OCLC activities, the Technology & Access Services Department still provides most of the same services that many people think of as former NEBASE activities, such as: –We still handle renewals and invoicing for the OCLC CatExpress and WebDewey groups. –We still provide [obsolete link removed] lender compensation for those libraries providing ILL service to other Nebraska libraries through OCLC. –We still provide database accounts in which libraries may place lender compensation or other monies to be used to pay for future purchases or renewals. –We still work with other networks to provide group discounts on items such as NetLibrary collections. –We still work with vendors to negotiate discounts on databases and other products and services. These are all listed at [obsolete link removed] Discount Purchasing Program~Databases & eResources, Discounts on Books & Supplies, and Discounts on Conferences. –We still offer training on a variety of topics, just not specifically on OCLC software. Be sure to sign up for the a session of the [obsolete link removed] 13th Annual Database Roadshow. Other questions have been asked about interlibrary loan. The resource sharing groups NE$A and LVIS that many Nebraska libraries belong to will continue to exist, as will likely any others your library may have joined. If a library decides to become a member of another OCLC Partner, there may be the option of joining additional resource sharing groups. Feel free to contact the Technology & Access Services if you have questions about making a choice for your OCLC invoicing source.