DUBLIN, Ohio, Jan. 4, 1999--OCLC and WLN announced today that they have agreed to merge, effective Jan. 1, 1999.
WLN, a nonprofit corporation, serves 550 libraries in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. and Canada from its office in Lacey, Washington. OCLC is a nonprofit corporation based in Dublin, Ohio, which serves over 33,000 libraries in 65 countries and territories.
"We are very excited about the possibilities for WLN customers and staff as we join with OCLC in this merger," said Paul McCarthy, WLN president and CEO. "WLN libraries will share in the strengths of OCLC, and the new OCLC/WLN Pacific Northwest Service Center will benefit by having several of its products and services marketed nationally and internationally through OCLC's strong sales force. The benefits of these same products and services will now be more directly available to OCLC's many libraries.
"Since the announcement of the Letter of Intent on Oct. 21, I have been immensely impressed by the energy, the focus and the commitment of staffs from both companies to put this merger together. The fact that we were able to do it in less than 10 weeks is a tremendous tribute to the good will and professional commitment of all involved. We look on this merger as truly a 'win-win' situation," said Mr. McCarthy.
"We believe this merger will benefit member libraries of both organizations," said Jay Jordan, OCLC president and CEO. "WLN libraries will join OCLC's digital, global community for cataloging, resource sharing and reference services, and OCLC member libraries will benefit from the inclusion of libraries in the Pacific Northwest in the OCLC network. OCLC brings strong financial, technical, marketing and networking resources to WLN's expertise in authority control and collection analysis. Working together, WLN and OCLC will eliminate duplicate services, introduce new and better products, and lower costs for member libraries."
"We are very pleased to be able to leverage WLN's strengths in the Pacific Northwest and build on its uniqueness," said Donald J. Muccino, OCLC executive vice president and chief operating officer, who is leading the negotiation and transition teams. "While both organizations have very similar missions, each brings different strengths to this new relationship."
More information is available at the WLN/OCLC Merger page on OCLC's Web site < http://www.oclc.org/wln/ >.
WLN is a nonprofit corporation devoted to the provision of innovative and high-quality information products and services, including an online bibliographic database, CD-ROM catalogs, database preparation/authority control services, and collection assessment services < http://www.wln.org/ >.
OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization whose computer network and services link more than 33,000 libraries in 65 countries and territories.
