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g But he points out: ‘The pandemic has


put pressure on us and even though we’re better off than most for getting the extra budget, making an investment here would be challenging. We may have been more eager to switch platforms two years ago, but now we’re playing it safer and saying let’s stick with what we know works.’


WorldShare Management Services: Making library collections more accessible at Oxford Brookes University


Empower your library’s journey to success with OCLC’s WorldShare® Management Services


OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services® (WMS) is a comprehensive cloud-based library management platform. It delivers the capabilities today’s users need while supporting the library’s strategic priorities and day-to-day work.


This made complete sense to Oxford Brookes Universit . The library selected WMS as a key part of its commitment to outstanding student experience and exceptional services.


Benefits for library users at Oxford Brookes •


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Libraries are striving to find new ways to serve their users and communities with advanced technology and tools to help easily find, access, and use the resources they need.


To find out why more than 600 libraries worldwide are using WMS and how it can help your library’s journey to success, register for free to attend our presentation and demo on Tuesday 10 November. Register at oc.lc/wms-101120


You will find out what it means for your library to work with a state-of-the-art cloud-based library services platform that supports collective innovation. •


A single interface to search across all collections, databases and material types, with access to unparalleled global resources through WorldCat®


Instant access to e-books, with automatic activation via WorldCat


An intuitive, retail-style interface where students can find what they need 24/7, without staff support


Extensive open-access material, with direct links to PDFs


What it means when you become a member of the largest and most dynamic network in the library world. A network that strengthens every product and service it touches.


With integration to Oxford Brookes’ online payment system, users can pay fines and fees in WMS.


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Benefits for library staff at Oxford Brookes • Workflows that are up to four times more efficient than legacy systems and other cloud platforms


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Seamless, automated workflows, integrating print and electronic resources, that allow for collaborative working across the library


How adopting an API-first approach to WMS product development is supporting libraries in integrating their services into the wider university environment, saving time and money.


Learn about some of the 300+ partnerships with OCLC that are helping boost library visibility, power new and better services and enhance the efficiency of staff using those services.


Register for free oc.lc/wms-101120


No more disruptive upgrades and time- consuming IT support. With OCLC taking care of system maintenance, staff can focus on service delivery and explore the potential of developments such as the extensive APIs that WMS offers


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Real-time analytics and reporting for accurate and actionable insights into impact on student learning and success.


WMS has been selected by more than 680 libraries around the world.


For more information Read more about Oxford Brookes’ experiences of WMS at oc.lc/obu-wms


8 Research Information October/November 2021


Lending lessons In North America, predominantly, the pandemic has rekindled debate over Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). As ProQuest’s Burke puts it: ‘This is now the buzzword in the US – it is everywhere and I must have six conversations a week about this concept and book-lending.’ CDL can be considered as the digital


equivalent of traditional physical library lending. A library will digitise a book it owns and then lend out a secured digital version to one user at a time, in place of the physical item. And throughout the pandemic, when remote learning was unavoidable, such a service was very useful. However, CDL is not new, and was contentious in the context of copyright law long before Covid-19 came along. For a publisher or copyright owner, the library doesn’t necessarily have the authority to copy their works, which could lead to lost sales – some organisations even regard CDL as glorified piracy. Meanwhile, libraries assert that the fair use doctrine and use of digital rights management protects them from any liability. CDL controversy hit a hiatus during the pandemic when US non-profit digital library, Internet Archive, created the National Emergency Library, removing the usual one copy/one user lending restrictions on its 1.4 million digitised books. Several publishers filed copyright infringement claims and the initiative ceased operation. The legal spat continues but change is


afoot. Ebsco has started to collaborate with UK-based software developer, Knowledge Integration, on support for CDL in Folio. At the same time, ProQuest’s Ex Libris is developing functions within its software to increase compatibility with CDL. ‘The community is working hard to find a way to lend these materials digitally within the legal framework because it’s just so important,’ says Burke. Dupont also expects to see a controlled


form of CDL in the future. ‘This could allow libraries or library-like entities to provide a new type of re-formatting and lending service,’ he says. ‘The legal mechanisms and technology platform need to be worked out, and we’re seeing a lot of attention to this aspect of providing access to information resources.’


In a related, and interesting turn,


libraries’ most coveted, and often most hidden, assets – special collections and archives – could also see a more digital future. Throughout the pandemic, archivists far and wide endeavoured to provide online access to their research materials, including Dupont who is looking into developing a virtual research experience of his library’s local collection to anyone in the world. This could involve the library providing scans to a researcher for limited research use and within copyright restrictions as well as ‘virtual reading rooms’ in which users have access to a document for a period of time. ‘Like Controlled Digital Lending...


we need to find ways to do this that don’t violate and copyright or privacy concerns, and the tools and software that can make this happened have yet to be developed in our area,’ he says. So what now – has the pandemic


triggered a cloud-only future for libraries? Ebsco’s Spalding points to the John Hopkins Welch Medical


“So what now – has the pandemic triggered a cloud- only future for libraries?”


Library, which made the switch to fully- electronic resources as early as 2012. Its collection exceeds 400,000 physical volumes, all of which are transitioning online: ‘This prestigious medical library closed its door years ago as the librarians are actually embedded in the research – I can see the physical [space] going in many other cases,’ he says. Spalding’s colleague, Kaplanian, is


also certain we’ll see more libraries operating as ‘cloud-only’, but he isn’t convinced these will become the majority. ‘A key service that libraries provide is a place to work, collaborate, learn and spread knowledge,’ he says. ‘I just don’t see this disappearing in the academic environment.’ And many agree. As RLUK’s Prosser points out, during the UK’s 2020 Christmas lock-down, University lecture theatres and other buildings were shutting down at a time when some overseas students simply couldn’t get home. ‘We have heard how the library was seen as the heart of the University at this time and was this totemic building that was central to learning - this symbol resonates with so many.’


@researchinfo | www.researchinformation.info


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