OCLC Policy Change
Background
On 5-Nov-2008, OCLC announced the Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat® Records to replace the Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records. The goals of the policy, as described by OCLC, were "to modernize record use and transfer practices for application on the Web, foster new uses of WorldCat data that benefit members and clarify data sharing rights and restrictions." This new policy generated considerable discussion in the library community, including two petitions, several trade publication articles, and over 80 blog posts with related comments.
On 13-Jan-2009, OCLC announced a Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship with a charge to: consult with librarians and member representatives as appropriate; review reports, letters and comments including blog and listserv messages from the global library community regarding the revised Policy; and recommend principles of shared data creation and changes in the Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records that will preserve the community around WorldCat infrastructure and services, and strengthen libraries. The Review Board submitted its final report to OCLC on 22-Jun-2009 recommending that the proposed policy be withdrawn and a Record Use Policy Development Task Force be formed along with a "formal, transparent and well-managed process" to create a new policy. In a news release posted on 26-Jun-2009, OCLC accepted these recommendations.
This page documents the discussion of members of the library community surrounding the revision of the Guidelines and creation of the Policy. It can be edited by anyone who has registered for an account on the Code4Lib wiki. Registration on the Code4Lib wiki is open to anyone with an e-mail address.
The Policy
- Press release regarding the Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship
- Announcement of OCLC Review Board Survey (via LITA-L mailing list)
- Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat® Records (Last known update is 19-Nov-2008; this version is in PDF)
- OCLC's summary statement about the policy
- Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC-Derived Records (the "Previous 1987 version")
Petitions
On November 13, 2008, a petition called Stop the OCLC powergrab! was started by Aaron Swartz to repeal the new policy. Background in his blog post, Stealing Your Library: The OCLC Powergrab.
On December 1, 2008, Elaine Sanchez created a new petition with more depth and specificity. The petition calls for OCLC to vacate the new policy, create a more open process for revising the 1987 guidelines, and assert that the records are the property of the respective contributing members. Ms. Sanchez posted an announcement about it on the Autocat mailing list.
Commentary Regarding First Revision (nov 2)
- pmurray - Is OCLC’s Change of WorldCat Record Use/Transfer Policy Related to the Google Book Search Agreement?
- jrochkind - viral nature of OCLC usage policy–like open source? No.
- Thingology - OCLC Policy Change
- Ed Summers - Bibliovirus
- Dan Scott - Archive of OCLC WorldCat Policy as posted 2008-11-02
- Libology - OCLC WorldCat is the Tiger, not the Lady
Commentary Regarding Second Revision (nov 5) / General
- "working as staff at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign"
Commentary Following the Announcement of the Review Board
Commentary Following the Members Council May 2009 Review Board Presentation
On 18 May 2009, Jennifer Younger (Chair of the Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship) presented preliminary findings to the OCLC Members Council. Two days later, a recording of Dr. Younger's presentation and the presentation slides were posted on the OCLC website.
| Date | Author | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2009-05-20 | Corrado, Ed | OCLC Review Board of Shared Data Creation & Stewardship recommends to “Formally withdraw the proposed (WorldCat) policy” |
| 2009-05-20 | Wallis, Richard | OCLC Dumps New Record Reuse Policy |
| 2009-05-20 | Murray, Peter | OCLC Review Board Recommends the Withdraw of Proposed Policy; Advocates for an Open Process |
| 2009-05-20 | Spalding, Tim | Non est potestas: OCLC Policy withdrawn |
| 2009-05-22 | Mijnsbergen, Edwin | Het beleid van OCLC: nieuwe ontwikkelingen (Translation to English from Dutch courtesy of Google) |
| 2009-05-22 | Leggott, Mark | Non est potestas: OCLC Policy Withdrawn (NC) |
| 2009-05-26 | National Diet Library (Japan) | WorldCatレコード利用・再配布の新ポリシーに対する審査委員会の審査結果 (Translation to English from Japanese courtesy of Google) (NC) |
| 2009-05-28 | Coyle, Karen | OCLC Policy - What is the Question? |
Commentary Following the Release of the Review Board Final Report
On 26 Jun 2009, OCLC published the final report of the Review Board of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship and announced the formal withdrawal of the proposed Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat® Records.
Comments on Comments
Sometimes the best insight comes in the comments added to blog postings and other stories. This Yahoo! Pipe (also available as an RSS feed) is a concatenation of comments from the postings and stories listed on this page -- with the exception of those marked "(NC)" because of use of software that doesn't support comment feeds. It was last updated as of page revision 3179.