As of 31st January 2021, the Jisc Library Hub Cataloguing service will fully transition from being provided by OCLC to being brought in-house and aligned with other Jisc Library hub services (Discover and Compare). Further details and technical information are available in this blog post.
In addition to providing the cataloguing service on Jisc’s behalf, the contract between Jisc and OCLC also encompassed synchronisation of UK academic library data to WorldCat, either via the NBK, or directly from institutions to OCLC. To avoid disruption to libraries and to maintain the currency of UK academic library records in WorldCat, Jisc and OCLC have entered into an extension agreement (relating to the data synchronisation function) to cover the period, 1st February – 31st July 2021.
Practically speaking, this means that for those libraries who were taking advantage of these arrangements, it is ‘business as usual’ for the next 6 months. Coming to an agreement for this duration is useful in that it helpfully re-aligns future potential annual contractual arrangements to the UK academic year, and therefore with academic budgeting cycles. It also facilitates the near-term objectives of Plan M (and the recommendations of the recent RLDM project). It affords Jisc and OCLC some continuity to keep exploring options around a collective WorldCat cataloguing licence for Jisc members and NBK contributors.
We are working with RLUK, SCONUL and Jisc governance groups to design effective consultation with libraries on this issue, and we will be seeking input from the sector to determine the basis for negotiations and to validate negotiation objectives. We will be looking to circulate a community questionnaire/survey in early March to consult on options.
