Shirley Baker
Vice Chancellor for Scholarly Resources and Dean of Libraries
OCLC and Its Advisory Committees
OCLC, as a membership organization has, since its inception, sought advice from its members, or had advice thrust upon it. Indeed, in the early days of OCLC, user groups sprang up spontaneously. As time passed, OCLC initiated groups to fill needs and gaps. At present, ten advisory committees and many user groups exist. The presence and effect of advisory groups over time was well documented in the beginning of this decade in OCLC's newsletter, with an entire issue focused on the work of these groups.
This article will focus on advisory committees, and specifically the type-of-library committees. Researching this article has brought back memories for the author, of watching, as a library middle manager, the formation of the Research Libraries Advisory Committee (RLAC). The memories are also surprisingly fresh for those others that I was able to reach who were there "at the birth" of committees. It seems that the creation of an advisory committee was a defining moment in the lives of those involved, since it is so vividly remembered many years later. Certainly, there was critical link between the formation and activities of OCLC advisory committees and developments in the library profession.
OCLC has grown in its nearly three decades from a supplier of catalog cards to a vendor of multiple services and an creator of links among libraries. The decisions involved with participating in OCLC have become significantly more complex. While we all thought that our original decision - to give over autonomy in our cataloging to an outside organization (even a membership organization) - was momentous, we now face decisions about OCLC services which are far more weighty. When we 'bought' our cataloging cards from OCLC, we had the actual cards in our possession, even if OCLC did not survive the next year. Now libraries are charging OCLC to create and preserve our primary materials - our journals and our archives, and the decisions to sacrifice autonomy for cost-control, access, and the common good have far-reaching consequences for libraries and for scholarship. The decisions we now make about OCLC products and services have repercussions well beyond the walls of our libraries. In these times, it is imperative that we work collaboratively with OCLC in guiding the decisions of the organization.
The OCLC Board of Trustees has, of course, ultimate responsibility for guiding the organization, and Users Council plays a stronger role than any advisory committee. Nonetheless, the advisory committees bring together the directors of libraries with common interests to guide OCLC. The type-of-library advisory committees helped move OCLC away from having hearing primarily from technical services staff or directors with technical services backgrounds, and have strengthened OCLC's movement into reference, collections, and issues beyond the immediate purview of libraries. Finally, serving on the advisory committees is a mind-expanding and educational opportunity for library directors, for whom there are few 'staff development' occasions. Advisory committee members whose terms are up leave the groups with regret and worry about how they will keep themselves quite as well-informed without the OCLC-based opportunities.
Research Libraries Advisory Committee
The earliest of the type-of-library advisory committees was the Research Libraries Advisory Committee, which grew out of discussions among ARL library directors in the late 1970's. The immediate impetus for the discussions was the expansionist activities of the Research Libraries Group. In an effort to increase membership from the original four (Columbia, Harvard, New York Public, and Yale), RLG organizers were approaching library directors and university presidents soliciting participation, and RLG membership was growing fast. Library directors with strong commitment to OCLC felt the need to find ways for OCLC to consolidate and strengthen its services for research libraries.
Research libraries have always been major contributors of original records to the OCLC union catalog, although they have never constituted the majority of OCLC members. Given its extensive membership of all types of libraries, OCLC designed its services to appeal to the broadest group. At the time of RLG's expansion, RLG was designing services intended to enhance collection development and preservation activities, the most pervasive and prestigious research library issues in the late '70's and early '80's.
There was much high drama involved in the competition between OCLC and RLG. Library directors took strong positions on each side. Some friendships between directors were permanently cooled by what was perceived, especially on the OCLC-director side, as excessive pressure to join RLG. This author remembers being at ALA in Chicago at the time of an open meeting being held at the Palmer House by RLG for libraries interested in joining. Standing chatting in the middle of the Palmer House lobby, for the duration of the meeting, were half a dozen of the major OCLC-adherents, being obvious about their non-attendance at the RLG meeting. Notable among them was the now legendary Hugh Atkinson, then director at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne, and one of his young assistants William Potter, now a member of the OCLC Board of Trustees.
Whatever the motivation for the formation of the Research Libraries Advisory Committee, the committee has served the profession well in its seventeen years of existence. Its first set of members - Harold Billings, Richard Chapin, James Govan, Gustave Harrer, Jay Lucker, Peter Paulson, Donald Simpson, Kenneth Tombs, and Joseph Treyz - is a veritable calendar of leaders in librarianship. Membership over the years has consistently included upcoming and current leaders. Joanne Harrar and Kaye Gapen brought some gender balance to the group early on, and current membership reflects today's more even gender balance in research library leadership.
The first OCLC-sponsored conference for research library directors was organized in April 1981, where RLAC chair Harold Billings welcomed fifty-eight of his colleagues. They were looking for ways, said Billings, "that research libraries can work together through OCLC's electronic network to fulfill our educational mission in ways that are faster and more economical." After two years of operation, the committee decided to dissolved itself, in favor of an OCLC-appointed group, with geographic distribution of membership and regular terms of service. Thus, RLAC officially dates from 1982. Terms for membership are three years, with one third of the members appointed annually, and the group, until 1996, consisted of twelve members.
RLAC has met every twice annually since then and sponsors each year a conference for research library directors on a topic of interest to senior management of the profession. The meetings and conferences continue to focus on committee goals" to identify and define specific programs of research library concerns, to assist OCLC in establishing priorities for implementing these programs, and to facilitate the wider distribution of the products of these programs. Committee meeting regularly include briefings from and discussion with OCLC research staff, allowing an early glimpse into OCLC's work, and affording an opportunity to shape the directions taken.
By 1996, OCLC had significantly expanded its international membership and increased the proportion in the union catalog of records for international materials. It was time to expand the Research Libraries Advisory Committee beyond North American and, in 1996, Jacqueline Dubois of the Bibliothèque de Musée de l'Homme joined the group, bringing membership to thirteen.
Advisory Committee on Public Libraries
Once a pattern for type-of-library advisory committees was established, it was relatively easy for OCLC to create new committees for different types of libraries, with variations suited to the audience. The Advisory Committee on Public Libraries (ACPL) was the second to be formed, in 1984. The birth of ACPL came two years after RLAC had become official. Enough time had passed for the activities of RLAC to be noticed in the profession. Task forces on cataloging microform sets, on document delivery, and preservation had drawn public attention. Research Libraries in OCLC: A Quarterly, published from 1981 to 1985, highlighted RLAC activities. By 1984, RLAC had staged three annual conferences for research library directors.
Appointments to ACPL, twelve members, appointed for three year terms, with one third appointed annually, replicated the pattern already established. Membership also focused on directors, with geographic and type and size of library distribution a goal. The goals parallel those of RLAC , but with emphasis on public library issues and links with the Public Library Association. In March of 1988, ACPL and OCLC hosted a Conference on the Future of the Public Library, attended by more than fifty directors. The Advisory Committee on Public Libraries also identified a creative approach for reaching the largest number of public library directors: ACPL plans a program for the biennial Public Library Association meetings. These programs have been accepted every year for the PLA program and have been well attended. Agenda topics for ACPL, while somewhat paralleling those for the academic library groups, featured, of course, topics reflecting the greater variation in size and type among public libraries.
Advisory Committee on College and University Libraries
Two years passed before the next of the type-of-library advisory committees appeared on the scene. The third, Advisory Committee on College and University Libraries (ACCUL) was aimed at the large number of small and medium-sized libraries which are members of OCLC. Indeed, while large research libraries represent 2% of the OCLC membership base in 1996, small and medium-sized academic libraries equal 26%.
There are twelve members in ACCUL who serve for three-year terms, with one-third appointed each year. The committee provides a channel to share viewpoints and advise OCLC in areas of strategic direction and policy. Nancy Eaton, involved with the formation of ACCUL when she was library director at the University of Vermont, describes the formation of as a natural step for a membership organization. Getting grassroots input from the membership base keeps the organization focused, she says. ACCUL also strives to encourage cooperative efforts and OCLC services that benefit academic libraries. And, like the other advisory committees, the Committee serves an important function in keeping open lines of communication between OCLC and its members.
The Advisory Committee on College and University Libraries meets twice a year. It does not sponsor programs for the larger community, as do RLAC and ACPL. However, it serves as an important forum for directors of small and mid-sized academic libraries to work together, on issues important to them and with a major provider of their services. Membership in ACCUL is sought-after and prized.
Advisory Committee on Special Libraries
The history of the formation of the Advisory Committee on Special Libraries (ACSL) can perhaps be understood as simply rounding out the type-of-library roster. It is likely, however, that the drivers behind its formation were more complex. Special libraries were not initially members of OCLC. Ann Wolpert, who was library director at Arthur D. Little, Inc. at the time, made ADL one of OCLC's first corporate library members. According to Wolpert, the path to membership was a bumpy one. "The regional networks were afraid that accepting a member from a for-profit organization might cost them their non-profit status. Eventually OCLC and the networks got some guidelines from the Internal Revenue Service and the comfort level improved. Meanwhile the cost justification we had prepared was such a revelation to the network that they incorporated it into their marketing literature."
There were other obstacles to special libraries' participation in OCLC, according to Wolpert. Special libraries feared that showing their holdings on OCLC would allow others to sniff out proprietary research interests. But, the uniqueness of special libraries' holdings, plus their high level of contribution of original records to the union catalog sustained OCLC interest in them, and special libraries key players in the OCLC community. By 1996, special libraries constituted 22% of the OCLC membership, indicating benefit both for the libraries and OCLC.
In early 1987, a Planning Committee for Special Libraries was formed and in December of that year, the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Special Libraries (ACSL) was held. Among the types of libraries included in this committees' purview are corporate, law, medical, and theological libraries. ACSL serves to represent to OCLC the concerns of special libraries and to represent OCLC to the special library community and their professional organizations. The Advisory Committee on Special Libraries is smaller than its peer groups, having eight members. But again, as in other advisory committees, one-third of the membership is appointed annually.
Common Themes
All four of the type-of-library advisory groups work to shape OCLC policies and programs, according to the particular needs of each group. It is the author's experience, however, that committee members are well aware that their interests cannot stand in isolation to those of other constituent groups. OCLC's financial and programmatic depends upon serving the broad community of libraries.
Advisory groups organized by function were created in the late 1980's. These - Access Services, Collections and Technical Services, Reference Services, Resource Sharing - present concerns across libraries. These groups, in particular, reflect the diversity of the larger library community, from community colleges to the Library of Congress (see member list in the appendix). They also brought balance from non-cataloging areas of libraries, as OCLC expanded its services beyond technical services.
In more recent years, OCLC has looked beyond libraries - to the higher education community and the world of research. A five member- Higher Education Policy Advisory Committee - with international membership provides perspective for OCLC's senior management. And, OCLC retains a small group conversant in computing and communications in its Research Advisory Committee.
The balance of input from libraries of all types, from library directors and from middle managers, from outside the library community, keeps OCLC's programs focused on current needs and helps guide new directions for this membership-based organization.
Appendix
ADVISORY COMMITTEES 1996/97
Access Services Advisory Committee
Sara Aden
Kearney Public Library and Information Center
Bradley Faust
Ball State University Libraries
Jean Hamrick
University of Texas at Austin
Rob Kairis
Kent State University
Deborah Ludwig
Johnson County Community College
Dan Marmion
Western Michigan University
Melanie Myers
Carnegie Mellon University
Mark Parker
Sacramento Public Library
Richard Reeb
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jeff Rehbach
Middlebury College
Wilson Stahl
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Susan Turner
World Bank and International Monetary Fund
Advisory Committee on College and University Libraries
Camila Alire
University of Colorado-Denver
Margaret Auer
University of Detroit Mercy
Lynn Chmelir
Linfield College
John Harrison
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Michael Kathman
College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
Tom Kirk
Earlham College
Sarah Pritchard
Smith College
Marion Reid
California State University, San Marcos
Robert Seal
Texas Christian University
Jay Starratt
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Jerry Stephens
University of Alabama, Birmingham
Stephen Stoan
Drury College
Advisory Committee on Public Libraries
Don Barlow
Westerville Public Library
John Brooks-Barr
Upper Arlington Public Library
Linda Crowe
BALIS/PLS/SBCLS
Lon Dickerson
Chatham-Effingham-Liberty Regional Library
June Garcia
San Antonio Public Library
William Gordon
Prince George's County Memorial Library System
Carla Hayden
Enoch Pratt Free Library
Laura Isenstein
Public Library of Des Moines
Deborah Jacobs
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
Jeffrey Krull
Allen County Public Library
Samuel Morrison
Broward County Division of Libraries
Donald Napoli
St. Joseph County Public Library
Advisory Committee on Special Libraries
Felicia Bagby
Northrup-Grumman
Nancy Lemon
Owens Corning
James Lommel
General Electric
Judith Messerle
Boston Medical Library and Harvard Medical School Library
Eugenie Prime
Hewlett-Packard
Linda Proudfoot
World Bank and International Monetary Fund
Sally Wise
University of Nebraska
Collections and Technical Services Advisory Committee
Pat Anderson
Newport News Public Library System
Shelby Harken
University of North Dakota
Mary Helms
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Ann Hope
University of Georgia
Victor Liu
Washtenaw Community College
Mary Frances Melnik
The Free Library of Philadelphia
Brian Schottlaender
University of California, Los Angeles
Jane Savidge
Victoria and Albert Museum
Pam Rebarcak
Iowa State University
Louise Sevold
Cuyahoga Public Library
Mary MacLeod
Acadia University
Tom Wilson
University of Houston
Higher Education Policy Advisory Committee
Brian Follett
The University of Warwick
Thomas Hearn, Jr.
Wake Forest University
Robert Heterick, Jr.
EDUCOM
Wesley Posvar
University of Pittsburgh
Richard Sisson
The Ohio State University
Sidney Verba
Harvard University
Research Advisory Committee
Edward Emil David
EED, Inc.
Edward Fox
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Joseph Hardin
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Bernard Hurley
University of California, Berkeley
Reference Services Advisory Committee
Stewart Bodner
The New York Public Library
Karen Campbell
Hamline University
Ulrike Dieterle
University of Wisconsin-Platteville
Roberto Esteves
San Francisco Public Library
Kurt Keeley
American Water Works Association
Dagmar Langeggen
National Office for Research, Documentation and Professional Libraries, Norway
Nicole Martin
Hood College
Linda Moore
Hillsdale College
Virginia Moreland
Agnes Scott College
Penelope O'Connor
Cleveland Public Library
Barbara Rosen
University of New Mexico
Dawn Thistle
College of the Holy Cross
Research Libraries Advisory Committee
Shirley Baker
Washington University
Betty Bengtson
University of Washington
Jacqueline Dubois
Bibliothèque du Musée de l'Homme
Kenneth Frazier
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ernie Ingles
University of Alberta
David Kohl
University of Cincinnati
Charles Miller
Florida State University
James Neal
Johns Hopkins University
Carla Stoffle
University of Arizona
Winston Tabb
Library of Congress
Merrily Taylor
Brown University
William Walker
New York Public Library
Karin Wittenborg
University of Virginia
Resource Sharing Advisory Committee
Ewa Barczyk
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Tammy Dearie
University of California, San Diego
Paul Drake
Kansas City (Missouri) Public Library
Casandra Fitzherbert
University of Southern Maine
Lone Knakkergaard
Danish Loan Centre
Michael Kreyche
Kent State University
Dorcas MacDonald
Syracuse University
Tim Prather
Austin (Texas) Public Library
Mary Schellhorn
Columbia (Illinois) College
Harold Shaffer
Indiana University
David Whisenant
Northeast Florida Library Information Network
Christopher Wright
Library of Congress
Shirley K. Baker
Vice Chancellor for Scholarly Resources
and Dean of Libraries
E-mail: shirley.baker@wustl.edu
Washington University
Campus Box 1061
St. Louis, MO 63130
Phone: 314-935-5400
Fax: 314-935-4045
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