Critical Information on UC/OCLC Pilot
By Ellen Meltzer, CDL Information Services Manager
Task Groups Being Formed
The UC/OCLC Pilot (or Next Generation Melvyl) Project Implementation Team is relying on campus expertise to help analyze, plan, implement, and evaluate the complex bibliographic and technical services issues and workflows involved in the creation of the Next Generation Melvyl Pilot, supported by the WorldCat Local service. The project is being divided into discrete tasks and each will be assigned to a small group for rapid study and response. Each group will also have a designated lead and be assigned an Implementation Team liaison to facilitate communication and filter questions that may have to be answered by OCLC. Task Groups may call on others for help, provided that the above caveats about rapid turnaround time and flexibility are kept in mind.
Experts are identified by the Implementation Team in consultation with All Campus Groups (ACGs) and/or appropriate campus administrative team members. Participants will be tracked over the project period, with a goal of maximizing campus participation and minimizing overuse of the same staff.
The Task Groups have defined deliverables and short turnaround times for reporting back to the Implementation Team, and in some cases, to other groups such as Heads of Technical Services (HOTS). While the first groups are focused on technical issues, groups examining collections and public service issues will be formed as the project unfolds.
Current Task Group charges can be found at
http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/uc_oclc.html#committee. Additional Task Groups will be formed throughout the life of the project. Some are UC-only teams; others will be joint UC-OCLC teams. Check back to see new group charges and membership of groups as they are formed.
Planning Progress
The Implementation Team is meeting twice weekly via conference call; one call each week is with the OCLC Implementation Team. To date, the Implementation Team has had two day-long face-to-face meetings, and a face-to-face meeting with the OCLC Implementation Team in early May. The UC Executive Team meets twice monthly with the OCLC Executive Team.
The Implementation Team is defining four stages of the project:
- Features or functions that must be in place for day 1 of the launch of the pilot (late 2007 or early 2008).
- Features or functions that will be implemented during the course of the four-month pilot.
- Features or functions that will be planned during the pilot and implemented after, should the pilot move to production.
- Features or functions that can be implemented after the pilot.
Areas for potential collaboration between UC and OCLC are being identified as we work on the project. The Team is also planning for user assessment to analyze possible problems, and discover mitigations for them.
University of Washington Pilot
The University of Washington Libraries has launched a pilot WorldCat Local catalog
(http://uwashington.worldcat.org/).
The goal of the pilot is to provide users with a single search and request service that covers the University of Washington Libraries, Summit libraries (most academic libraries in Washington and Oregon), WorldCat and a selection of article citations—all through one catalog.
Features initially include a single search box, relevancy ranking of search results, result sets that bring multiple versions of a work together, faceted browsing, citation formatting options and cover art.
Through a locally branded interface, the service provides libraries the ability to search the entire WorldCat database and present results beginning with items most accessible to the user. WorldCat Local interoperates with locally maintained services like circulation, resource sharing and resolution to full text to create a seamless experience for the end user. The UW pilot has many features that will be similar to UC’s. Search the UW pilot at http://www.lib.washington.edu/ .
Learn more about UC’s pilot
To learn more about the Next Generation Melvyl pilot project, visit http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/uc_oclc.html .
An FAQ is available at http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/uc_oclc_faq.html .