Implementing WMS in AMICAL libraries: Experience and opportunities

AMICAL members will discuss their experiences and conclusions from implementing and using OCLC’s Worldshare Management Services (WMS).

WorldCat Discovery and WorldShare Managment Services (WMS) are the core of OCLC’s next-generation library system offerings. Like all of OCLC’s offerings, they are built around the concept of libraries creating cooperative services.

Two AMICAL Libraries (AUS and John Cabot) have already gone live with WMS, and several others are exploring the possiblities of the system.

This panel will address : 1. The advantages for AMICAL of having many libraries on WMS 2. The usefulness of collection comparison reports for cooperative collection development 3. Using WMS’s API’s to develop applications to enable cooperation.

Thomas Hodge and Elisabetta Morani will present on their respective institutions experiences implementing OCLC’s WMS system at their libraries. Among other topics, Thomas will cover improved staff efficiency and real cost savings compared to retaining locally managed systems. Elisabetta will focus on John Cabot’s experience with Collection and Resource Manager and their impact on e-Resource management. Rosanna Ramacciotti will be on hand to talk about future plans for WMS and to answer questions from OCLC’s persepective. During the discussion we hope to hear from any libraries investigating WMS to address any questions or concerns about WMS and cloud-based library systems in general.