Recently in General Category
I'm a deadline kind of guy. I think it comes from writing for magazines. I do much better (even at the last minute) if I know I have a deadline. Frankly, it's one of the reasons I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. When Hectic Pace was at American Libraries, they were smart enough to contractually obligate me to four posts per month. I should have told OCLC that if they really wanted me to blog, they should have put it in my contract.
So my deadline for a year end review of activities is, naturally, the end of the year. It's been a good one for the Networked Library Services product portfolio at OCLC. And the excitement does not begin and end with WMS. Well, maybe it does begin there.
After several months of testing with a half dozen pilot libraries, WMS launched to Early Adopters after ALA in June. I'm happy to say that in that short time, seventeen libraries have already committed to be early adopters. Four of them are already live and using the services in production.
Platform Services
With the new WMS technology stack comes the opportunity for the real fruits of a Service Oriented Architecture. OCLC will be expanding the existing Developer Network by working with a few key WMS libraries in developing services on the new platform. There is some very exciting work going on here. Stay tuned.
The Developer Network site got a nice facelift this year. The new Drupal site brings new content and functionality to the dedicated group of developers working with OCLC APIs. The new deisgn was so popular that it became the basis for the Web-scale Management Services User Support Center.
WCA continues to provide libraries with valuable information about their own collections while also comparing holdings to WorldCat, peer libraries, and several authoratative lists. Some new analysis tools are currently under investigation and should provide some promising opportunities for even better analytics, including new technologies, integration with library workflows, and clean new displays. Again, stay tuned!
In the Summer of 2009, OCLC began working with a small handful of libraries to turn the most popular remote access tool for libraries into a hosted solution. On December 2, OCLC announced the general release of the Hosted EZproxy service. Several libraries are already signing up. I don't like to quibble over superlatives like first, best, and biggest....oh who am I kidding...EZproxy is all three.
That's just a quick overview of a year that had a lot of activity. I didn't even hit some of the enterprise level activities that go into supporting not only the products within my own product portfolio but several others as well--things like OCLC's new Identity Management (IDM) services, Service Configuration (for products like WorldCat Local and the OCLC knowledge base, and other products), and, of course, stats.oclc.org.
Our team continues to grow, as does our commitment to the libary cooperative. Membership involvement in the strategic direction, the development process, and product creation has been tremendously helpful and rewarding--from the pilots and early implementers to the focus groups, commentators, and everyone in between. The validation we have received from libraries is the best reward. Here's to even more fruitful and productive year in 2011.
I've had a great time this week, talking to media and bloggers, tweeting, talking to colleagues in libraries, and engaging the community towards OCLC's new Web-scale effort. The amount of energy and curiosity around this new effort is amazing. The cooperative nature of this profession makes this effort worthwhile. I'm looking forward to the opportunities in the months ahead to share more details and gather more reaction to the web-scale management services strategy. More specific details on my project are forthcoming, on this blog, and on the OCLC Product Works page. I'm convinced that it will be some time before the fun stops.
Okay, I'll admit it. I miss the occasional 70 degree days in January in Raleigh, NC. It's fair to say that Ohio doesn't really have any of those. I do, however, prefer snow storms to ice storms, Canada Geese to mosquitoes, and Graeter's ice cream to just about anything.
But one of he most exciting events that happens in a central Ohio Spring is the end to the Winter's hibernation. Dormant neighborhood streets are suddenly filled with kids on bikes, excited pets, and families squinting at the sun like bears emerging from caves. People start eating outside, running errands at lunch, and the extra daylight makes non-work time all the more glorious.
I think today is that day. Everyone I work with is great, but today the smiles were bigger, the jocularity was funnier, and the "spring" in people's steps seemed a little bouncier I think the water even tasted better.
Next comes the energy and excitement that I always have an easier time equating with Springtime. I can't wait to see what happens next.
No, not really. A recent comment to an old post made me realize (as I have for weeks) that I have nothing but old posts on which people can comment. Sigh.
As it often is, travel is my latest excuse. This quarter I have been to Denver, the UK, Seattle, Lawrence (KS), and as I write this I am sitting in the airport on my way to Chicago. Next up: Munich, Indiana, and Boston. Fine trips all of them, and I have a list of blog topics as long as my arm, but exhaustion never sets in as heavily as it does after a long trip and a glance over at the closed up laptop.
So I will try to revel in the time that I have had to actually do some hard work and connect with OCLC colleagues around the world and library colleagues around the States. I must revel in the briefer moments I have had with my family in the last couple of months.
So maybe I could have gotten away with a secular Lenten excuse...giving up something I like and (used to) do frequently for more thoughtful reflection. That long list of topics just has to wait for the rebirth that comes with Spring.
I hope that you good readers will forgive another metablog (blogging about blogging). I will get back to business soon.
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