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OCLC Convenes Council to Develop New WorldCat Record Use Policy

The OCLC board of trustees has convened a council to study and develop a new WorldCat Record Use Policy to replace the guidelines dating from 1987. A proposed policy had drawn a firestorm of criticism, and it was withdrawn following a review board recommendation.

The intent is to recommend to the OCLC board of trustees a new policy that is aligned with the present and future information landscape. The new policy will replace the Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records that was developed in 1987.

The formation of this council was one of the recommendations contained in the final report (www.oclc.org/us/en/worldcat/catalog/finalreport_reviewboard.pdf) of the OCLC Review Board on the Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship formed in January 2009 to represent the membership and to inform OCLC on best practices for sharing library data. The policy council is also charged with carrying out the other recommendations contained in the final report, including development of a policy to enable expanding the role and value of WorldCat in the broad information ecosystem.

Over the course of the next 7 months, the record use policy council will:

• Review key values and principles underlying the current guidelines developed in 1987
• Develop success criteria for a revised policy or guidelines
• Conduct and disseminate the results of an environmental scan of data-sharing policies
• Evaluate findings from the environmental scan and draft a new policy and recommendations for implementation
• Develop a formal, transparent, and well-managed process for vetting the new draft policy with the OCLC regional councils and the OCLC global council as the representatives of the OCLC membership.

The record use policy council will begin its work soon. The group will define an approach and timeline to carry out this important charge. The council will submit a new draft policy and recommendations for implementation to the chair of the OCLC board of trustees and OCLC president and CEO, for review and approval by the OCLC board of trustees in midyear 2010.

Source: OCLC