From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:31:27 +0000

Ann:

This is a response from  Andrew Pace to the posting by Daniel
Michniewicz of the 8th of April.  I have requested and received
permission to forward it to Liblicense-l.

Chuck

***********

Dan, et al,

As product portfolio owner for WorldCat Discovery Services at OCLC, I
hope you don't mind me jumping in to clarify some of the points in
your post.  All current FirstSearch subscribers receive access to
WorldCat Discovery as part of their FirstSearch subscriptions at no
additional charge.  If your library subscribes to WorldCat Local,
FirstSearch access is included in this subscription.

The release of WorldCat Discovery means that many libraries with
existing unlimited FirstSearch subscriptions may now benefit from a
discovery service without incurring costs beyond their current
subscriptions.  There is a small number of libraries with port-limited
subscriptions to WorldCat on FirstSearch. For these libraries, the
transition to unlimited access to WorldCat Discovery, with access to
more content in the central index, holdings syndication and many other
features, will result in a subscription increase.

Libraries that do not yet have a discovery service may choose to adopt
the full feature set of WorldCat Discovery as their new discovery
service on their own timeline. Alternatively, some libraries may use
WorldCat Discovery along with an existing discovery service to provide
ongoing access to WorldCat for their users in a new, redesigned user
experience.

The release of WorldCat Discovery does not change the requirements for
a library's holdings to be visible in WorldCat.org and other OCLC
partner websites.  Since WorldCat.org was released in 2006, a
FirstSearch subscription has been required to support this Web
visibility for OCLC cataloging members. This requirement continues
with WorldCat Discovery Services.

A cataloging subscription supports the cost of maintaining the
software and infrastructure for the WorldCat database.

A FirstSearch subscription (which will become a WorldCat Discovery
subscription in the future) covers the cost of making thaw data
accessible to information seekers and machines that integrate
information resources through interfaces and APIs.  This subscription
gives the public access to a library's collections maintained in
WorldCat through WorldCat Discovery, WorldCat.org and websites of
partners such as Google Books, Goodreads, EasyBib, etc. You will find
more information about WorldCat Discovery at:

http://www.oclc.org/worldcat-discovery.en.html.

I hope this information helps clarify the improvement we are making to
our new interface to access WorldCat and so much more.

Thanks,
Andrew

************

Original message

From: Daniel Michniewicz <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2014 18:42:26 +0000

Hello all.

(Apologies for cross-posting)

Wondering if anyone who uses Summon (ProQuest/SerialsSolutions), EDS
(EBSCO), Primo (ExLibris), or another non-OCLC vendor for their
web-scale discovery layer/service, but who also contributes to OCLC
WorldCat, has taken any position on OCLC bundling FirstSearch with
WorldCat Local into their new WorldCat Discovery Services offering
(http://oclc.org/en-CA/news/announcements/2014/worldcat-discovery-services-available.html)
-- in effect, making all OCLC library contributors take on a WSD
service they never asked for and likely not ever use? We’ve been told
that if we don’t sign up for the new larger service, our college’s
records will not be visible in OCLC products. Is this a no-brainer for
your library (not signing up) or are you struggling with wanting to
remain good OCLC contributors? Cue the Alice Cooper: “No more … Mr.
Nice Guyyyy!!”

Any thoughts, on- or off-list, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Dan

Dan Michniewicz
Digital Resources Librarian
Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology
[log in to unmask]
Newnham Library, B2049
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M2J 2X5