OCLC 2016-2017 Annual Report: Continual Reinvention

We invite you to view the 2016–2017 OCLC Annual Report. This past year, we celebrated our cooperative’s golden anniversary and looked at ways to reinvent library collaboration. We expanded WorldCat by 20 million records, increasing its value as an essential global hub for library metadata. We revolutionized resource sharing with the world’s first cloud-based ILL management system and welcomed Relais International into OCLC. And we enhanced WorldShare Management Services with more than 150 new features—70% driven by member feedback. We also saw both innovation and growth in our membership activities to provide opportunities where you could learn from your colleagues, peers, and OCLC staff.  Thank you for a great year!

A message from the OCLC president:

OCLC is a rare example in the technology world of both continuity and reinvention. What started in 1967 as a dream for a few academic libraries in Ohio is now a reality for thousands of libraries worldwide and the millions of people we serve.

In celebrating our golden anniversary, we had a chance to reflect on OCLC’s 50-year commitment to shared technology, research, and community, including examples of reinvention from the past year. In FY17, we reimagined the use of WorldShare^® for student workers. We rethought resource sharing to expand both what can be done and for whom. We engaged in major new research that points toward the need to reinvent library collaboration at even greater scales. You can read more about these and other efforts below.

OCLC has made giant strides in the past 50 years. We have great plans for the future, too, starting in FY18 with a reinvention of the collective collection. We’re launching a global theme of The Smarter Library for all of our regional council meetings. And we’re finding new ways to make more of our services available for an even wider array of libraries. And that’s just to name a few key initiatives.

We are also stewards of our members’ contributions. As a nonprofit organization, our goal is not to make money for investors or owners. We instead work to make a difference for our members, as we work to make knowledge more accessible to all. Our financial results are one metric of those efforts. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to review our accomplishments below and the associated financial results.

Thank you for 50 wonderful years. Here’s looking forward to the next half-century of making breakthroughs together.