Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky State University, Northern Kentucky University and the University of Louisville have selected OCLC WorldShare Management Services as their library management system.
WorldShare Management Services (WMS) provide cloud-based library management and discovery applications in an integrated suite. WMS offers librarians a cost-effective way to manage workflows efficiently, and improve access to library collections and services for their students, faculty and staff.
The four university libraries are members of the State Assisted Academic Library Council of Kentucky (SAALCK), which was formed more than 40 years ago by the deans of the academic libraries to provide an opportunity to meet and discuss common needs and concerns.
“We were looking for a new library management solution that could offer a lot more capabilities than our existing integrated library system, and at the same time fit within our budget,” said Anne K. Abate, Executive Director, SAALCK. “We asked our members to investigate their local needs and select a system that best meets those needs. WMS is able to support the existing technology these libraries have in place, and offer new technologies to help us streamline our workflows and processes.”
“Our libraries wanted a management system that was designed to bring together the collections and services we provide in the 21st century,” said Robert E. Fox, Jr., Dean and Professor, University Libraries, Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville. “After conducting a thorough review of all available options, we realized that WMS was the service for us as it connected the dots between our library system needs and our already strong relationship with OCLC. WMS will make sense to our users and its financial sustainability makes sense to us as library administrators.”
“We welcome these four university libraries to the growing Worldshare Management Services community,” said Andrew K. Pace, OCLC Executive Director, Networked Library Services. “The addition of these libraries in Kentucky, including an ARL (Association of Research Libraries) in the University of Louisville, demonstrates the value libraries of all types and sizes see in taking library management services to the cloud.”
The four Kentucky university libraries are scheduled to go live with WMS by the 2015 academic school year.
“The W. Frank Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) is excited to be moving to OCLC WMS both because it represents an integration of what is currently a collection of diverse third party applications at NKU and because of its ties to our existing OCLC services, which remain critical to the basic functions of a library,” said Arne J. Almquist, Associate Provost and Dean of the Library, Northern Kentucky University.
Today, more than 325 libraries worldwide are using WMS to share bibliographic records, publisher and knowledge base data, vendor records, serials patterns and more. WMS also provides libraries with the unique opportunity to share innovation, applications, infrastructure, vision and success in serving their users.
More about WorldShare Management Services is available on the OCLC website.
