It's worth noting that the legality of re-using/sharing the OCLC number alone without any permission is much more clear than the legality of sharing the record itself -- (I'm not a lawyer but) it's almost certainly legal to share/re-use the OCLC number by itself without any permission at all.
I agree with Jim that the value of the OCLC control number is quite high, even apart from the OCLC records. And, fortunately, it's not only legal to use, but in my opinion (and hopefully OCLC will see it this way too) actually in OCLC's business interest to promote (rather than restrict) free re-use of the OCLC control number.
I wrote more on this at:
http://bibwild.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/oclc-numbers-as-manifestation-identifiers/
Jonathan
________________________________________
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Karen Coyle [lists_at_KCOYLE.NET]
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 10:35 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] OCLC Formally Withdraws WorldCat Policy
Weinheimer Jim wrote:
> I also have a feeling that the option of WorldCat Local (which is going to be *very attractive* to many libraries in this current economic environment) is somehow central to it all. See: http://www.oclc.org/worldcatlocal/
> For those libraries who opt into this "free" option, it will be almost irresistible. The basis of WorldCat Local (as I understand it) is that each library will need only the item management parts of an ILS (acquisitions, circulation, location) and that users will search WorldCat, which will then link into your system to display the availability information to the users, and your library comes up No. 1 in the list of libraries.
>
OCLC is already testing what it calls "web scale" library management
services -- that is, circulation, acquisitions, etc. run off of
Worldcat. (http://www.oclc.org/us/en/news/releases/200927.htm). In
theory this could entirely replace local systems (although I imagine
that libraries will want to keep some kind of local inventory.... or
maybe not).
> But again, if I am correct in my understanding, the master record held in OCLC, along with the OCLC control number will become very valuable, indeed.
>
>
>
I think it already is very valuable, although under-utilized due to
restrictions (e.g. membership). This adds to my bewilderment about
OCLC's apparent fear of competition. OCLC has an extremely valuable
product, is used by over 60,000 libraries, and has 30 years of history
with the library community. Why are they acting so defensively?
kc
--
-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
--
----------------------------------
Received on Fri Jul 03 2009 - 13:25:12 EDT