June 2015 Vendor Partner Interview: Skip Prichard, President and Chief Executive Officer, OCLC

At WiLS, we want to bring valuable information to our library partners, including information about the missions and big ideas of the vendors they may already do business with.  Each month, WiLS will interview a vendor partner in order to bridge the gap and open the door to valuable collaborations.  This month, we are delighted to share insights from Skip Prichard, President and Chief Executive Officer of OCLC.

These interviews are part of a series of interviews with both WiLS library and vendor partners.  Your feedback is appreciated.  If you have any to offer on this article, or suggestions for upcoming interviews, contact Andrea Coffin at .

Tell us about your company’s background.

The most interesting thing about OCLC’s background is that in almost 50 years, the purpose of the cooperative hasn’t changed. When a group of Ohio academic librarians met in 1967, the idea was to cooperate using technology in order to help share knowledge more efficiently and widely. The technology changes, of course. But adopting or improving a specific technology has never been the point. Just as libraries have changed to meet the particular needs of learners, OCLC members have adopted new technology to meet their own needs. The real value to members is that, together, libraries can coordinate their resources, do more research, plan with confidence, be more agile and have more visibility within the wider information ecosystem. Working together, libraries make knowledge accessible for more people. That’s what they do for their institutions and communities, and it’s what OCLC members do for each other.

Why do you, personally, choose to work with libraries?

I’ve worked with libraries for most of my career and find it personally rewarding on so many levels. Libraries are, after all, one of the great educational, cultural and economic success stories of all time. And people who work in libraries tend to be very smart, very focused and very dedicated to a purpose beyond their own walls. You don’t get that combination in a lot of other industries. Also, on a more personal note, because most librarians have public service as part of their jobs, they tend to be extremely friendly and reasonable, even when disagreeing passionately. That’s, again, a nice change from the way people treat each other in some other sectors.

What do you like to know about the libraries you work with? What helps you better understand their needs?

The two questions I always ask are, “What do your users need most?” and “What barriers are keeping that from happening?” It’s tempting to start asking about the efficiency of a particular service, feature functionality, specific programs, etc. Those questions are important…eventually. But before we get there, we need to understand what will make a difference in the lives of the researchers, students, businesses and people that libraries serve. To do that, I need to know what the roadblocks are. For example, a lot of the specific questions we ask end up boiling down to one key concern I hear very often: too much time spent on administrative, routine tasks prevents us from really connecting with our users. That’s a penetrating insight, and one that can help keep OCLC focused on goals that have an impact rather than just ticking boxes off on a survey.

What big ideas are being worked on at your company? What problems are being solved?

Shared print is an area that brings together a lot of the “big picture” type questions I referenced above. For example, the shift from print to electronic resources means, of course, that there’s an opportunity to free up physical space. And we hear that many academic libraries are being asked to do just that. Public libraries, too, are seeing a greater call for novel, interactive use of their spaces. At the same time, libraries feel a deep and appropriate requirement to maintain the academic and cultural integrity of local, often unique collections. Shared print programs can positively impact all of those needs, and I’m excited that we’re moving quickly in that area. It’s an opportunity, again, for library cooperation to really fuel some major gains for members.

While it’s not a new thing, I think that the opportunity for partnerships—both within and outside of the library community—continues to be a “big idea” for OCLC members. We’re seeing more and more consolidation among publishers, media companies, Web services, etc. That’s because, online, scale and network effects are important to success. As members of a cooperative, OCLC libraries can effectively position themselves as a visible, efficient, global group that provides real benefits to partners. Small, single entities can work with large, global companies, certainly…but they do so primarily as customers, not equals. Together, our members can really leverage their collective strengths and form important partnerships that maintain the integrity and mission of libraries. I think that groups like WiLS often come together for just that reason and understand the value of coordination implicitly.

How can librarians become partners in product or training development?

Just ask! We have all kinds of opportunities for people to get involved. Seriously, if anyone wants to raise their hand, we’ll find a way to put you to work. It all depends on how you want to be involved and what you want to get out of it. For some, that means getting more involved in representing the interests of all libraries through OCLC regional or global councils. On a product-by-product basis, we have many user group meetings and opportunities to participate in pilot programs, beta tests, etc. And there are ways individual libraries and programmers can build solutions that tap into the larger, cooperative resources. Our developer network is a great place to find and connect with folks in that area.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share?

Only that I think it’s an exciting time for libraries and the people who work in them. I know…“Exciting times” also often means challenging times. And there are plenty of valid and important concerns about funding and support that need to be addressed. That being said, there’s never been a time in history when more people have been concerned with the collection and spread of knowledge. There have never been more types of media, more creators and more channels. Before the last couple of decades, had you ever heard someone outside of libraries use the term “metadata?” Now it’s common. It’s important not just to libraries but to educational institutions, technology companies and governments. Libraries can play a vital role in helping their constituents navigate these increasingly complex systems. It won’t be the same role as twenty years ago…but that’s OK. Libraries have already weathered a few thousand years of change. I’m confident that they’ll do so again and again.