Libraries entering new era, says OCLC president

Robert L. “Jay” Jordan

3:46 p.m., April 27, 2005--Robert L. “Jay” Jordan, president of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), focused on the changing nature of libraries in an afternoon lecture Tuesday, April 26, at the Trabant University Center Theatre.

Addressing an audience that included University President David P. Roselle, an OCLC Board of Trustees member since November, Jordan talked about OCLC’s history, the constantly shifting information landscape and the importance of being good stewards of data in the age of the Internet.

“Our mission at OCLC is all about furthering access to information by helping libraries serve people through economical access to materials,” Jordan said.

Citing data from a recent survey, Jordan said that clear trends have emerged over the past few years that indicate that the information revolution currently under way requires OCLC associates to go the extra mile to stay on mission.

“Today’s library users are very savvy, and over the past decade, there has been a significant decrease in the need for guided access to data,” he added. “There is a much greater need for disaggregation of data, for globalization of data and for increased collaboration among information-keepers. Librarians are by nature collaborators, and a chief goal of OCLC is to build and further information-sharing communities.”

Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs. It serves more than 50,000 libraries in 84 countries and territories around the world, which use its services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. The University has been a member of OCLC since 1974.

OCLC has particularly furthered its mission of information retrieval and sharing with its WorldCat database, which contains bibliographic information about more than 57 million items held by libraries around the world. OCLC WorldCat, which is updated daily and is accessible from the UD Library home page (under "Databases"), covers thousands of subjects and includes information for items dating as far back as 1000 A.D.

Jordan became OCLC’s fourth president in May 1998. Before joining OCLC, he was associated with Information Handling Services Group, Englewood, Colo., for 24 years. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from Colgate University in 1966, and he served as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1966-69.

Jordan closed his lecture by requesting feedback from the audience, and an open reception followed, where he continued discussions informally.

Article by Becca Hutchinson

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