Ian R. M. Mowat, Librarian to the University
Edinburgh University has had connections with higher education in North America since before the days of the Revolution: James Blair, Founder and first President of William and Mary College, Va (1693) and John Witherspoon, first President of Princeton University (1768) and signatory of the Declaration of Independence and of the Articles of Confederations, were both Edinburgh University alumni, for instance. These links continue to the present days and nowhere is this more evident than in the relationship between Edinburgh University and OCLC. OCLC is a global consortium of libraries, based in Columbus, Ohio. Starting as a small grouping of libraries in Ohio State trying to operate more efficiently through the use of new technology, OCLC has grown to be a world force in information provision (its joint catalogue, WorldCat, claims to be the most used electronic database in the world) and has achieved the status of a place in the Smithsonian Museum for its contribution to the information age.
Edinburgh University was one of the first libraries in Europe to buy catalogue records from and contribute to OCLC's database and continues to make heavy use of OCLC services. In the last three years Edinburgh has made an especially useful contribution to WorldCat, and, therefore, to scholars around the world, especially in the United States, by creating electronic catalogue records for much of its older stock through a major programme funded by a special government initiative. Major collections as diverse as African Studies, Scandinavian literature, Gaelic manuscripts and religious pamphlets have been indexed in detail by specially trained staff. As the government funding comes to an end next year, the Library is currently searching for new sponsors to help it complete its programme in order that the old guard-book catalogue, remembered with a mixture of affection and loathing by many former undergraduates, can finally be dispatched to a library museum!
In addition, a steadily closer relationship has been developing on a wider front. The Librarian to the University is currently the European representative on OCLC User Council - one of the only two non-US representatives on the Council. Of possibly greater significance in the longer term is the cooperative work taking place between OCLC and Edinburgh University Data Library where the Data is acting as a test-bed for OCLC software and is in discussions on joint developments on a wider front.
To further this growing relationship, Edinburgh University Library will be visited on 21st August 1998 by Jay Jordan, the new Chief Executive of OCLC. Jay is coming to Europe primarily to attend the meeting of the International Federation of Library Associations in Amsterdam but is including Edinburgh as one of the very few other stops on his trip.
Number of visits
since 4 Mar 99
Last updated on
4 Mar 99