23 February 2022
Jisc and OCLC have signed an agreement meaning academic and specialist libraries across the UK will have better access to fit-for-purpose catalogue records and an enhanced ability to share and reuse bibliographic metadata.
Building on the aims of Plan M to streamline the metadata marketplace in the UK, this transitional agreement, which runs until July 2022, will allow subscribing libraries to access OCLC WorldCat cataloguing services - a comprehensive database of information about library services.
It will also enable all users of the Jisc Library Hub Cataloguing service to download full OCLC records. It also increases the global visibility of subscribing libraries by enabling catalogue data to be shared with WorldCat.
Neil Grindley, Jisc’s director of content and discovery, said: “Aligned with community goals and based on extensive consultation, this first transitional phase of agreement represents an important step towards designing a more open library data ecosystem.”
David Prosser, executive director of Research Libraries UK, said: “RLUK very much welcomes the agreement that has been reached between Jisc and OCLC. In addition to the benefit it will provide to libraries by making high quality catalogue data more accessible and shareable, it will also facilitate more effective partnership working to explore evolving challenges and emerging opportunities in relation to the data.”
The agreement provides a foundation for Jisc, OCLC and participating libraries to work closely together on shared challenges, towards the goal of more openly shareable data
The partnership will be used to accelerate the shift towards using linked data approaches to empower new research; and to undertake collaborative explorations of bias and misrepresentation in the discovery of resources to ensure diversity and inclusion.