Bill Moen and Tim Spalding wrote about the distinction between an OCLC participant and a member. Based on the description
"Institutions worldwide become members of OCLC by contractually agreeing to contribute intellectual content or share resources. ,,, Members financially support OCLC through purchase of services or products. Without the ongoing contribution of intellectual content or sharing of resources, such purchases do not qualify an institution for Membership."
It seems that to be a member (and be able to participate in governance issues) you must contribute intellectual content. Simply being a purchaser of services (for example, contract cataloging or CONTENTdm wouldn't make you a member. It would also mean you would not be allowed to upgrade records in WorldCat. You'd be simply a consumer or purchaser of a service.
Tim went on to suggest: " I take this to threaten not just those who switch to other providers, like SkyRiver, but also users of CatExpress and those using the "ILL Only" in only one direction."
I'm not sure why it might be considered a threat. In any event, I think this has been more or less the working definition for a while.
Daniel
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Daniel CannCasciato
Head of Cataloging
Central Washington University Brooks Library
400 E. University Way
Ellensburg, WA 98926-7548
dcc_at_cwu.edu
Received on Sun Aug 08 2010 - 10:52:20 EDT