DUBLIN, Ohio, 22 June 2018—The Revs Institute, a leading destination for automotive research and historical study, is now using OCLC's WorldShare Management Services as its library services platform and CONTENTdm to manage its digital collections and make them accessible on the web.
WorldShare Management Services (WMS) provides all of the applications needed to manage a library, including acquisitions, circulation, resource sharing, metadata and license management, and a discovery service for library users. It also includes a range of reports that help libraries better understand their activities and track key metrics over time. CONTENTdm enables the library to easily build and showcase digital collections on the web.
The Revs Institute, in Naples, Florida, was founded in 2009 by Miles Collier, whose father and uncle are credited with introducing sports car racing to the United States during the 1930s. Providing the automobile with a platform that demonstrates its power and influence on culture and history remains Mr. Collier's mission. The mission of the Revs' Library and Archives is to support the scholarly and instructional work of the Revs staff, volunteers and user community.
By preserving milestones in automotive history, the Revs Institute is documenting the automobile as a cultural icon and agent of change. It is now the most comprehensive automotive library in the world.
"Mr. Collier had a vision to create not just a car museum, but a true repository for auto history," said Mark Vargas, Chief Operating Officer and Director, the Revs Institute Library and Archives. "Many years ago, he started building and amassing a collection that's second to none. But it was not just having the materials. He wanted to make the collections accessible. That's what we've striven for, and that's the reason we moved to WMS and CONTENTdm—to make our collections more accessible to users anywhere, anytime."
The Revs Institute systems had grown over time, but they were not working together—the digital library was separate from the library catalog, and neither were accessible through WorldCat. "We wanted to integrate, as best we possibly could, all our resources and services in a cost-effective, staff-effective way," said Vargas.
"We determined that using WMS and CONTENTdm was the most seamless way possible to connect to WorldCat. We could integrate everything, and we didn't need to have a technical support staff to make it all happen. We knew we could rely on the OCLC team to help bring it all online," said Vargas.
"We are delighted that the Revs Institute is now part of the WMS community," said Mary Sauer-Games, OCLC Vice President, Global Product Management. "The Library and Archives has demonstrated great leadership and innovation in making its unique automotive collection accessible to library users and researchers around the world."
CONTENTdm makes it possible for libraries to build and manage digitized collections and make them more visible and accessible to users. The Revs Institute has 500,000 images available online now, and another 500,000 yet to digitize. The library is digitizing an average of 6,000 images each week. In addition, the Revs Institute built an entire e-commerce platform directly in CONTENTdm. They use the WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway to upload their collections to WorldCat, where students and researchers can find them more easily.
At the time the Revs Institute selected CONTENTdm, they also decided to begin digitizing their own collections. "We found it much cheaper to digitize in-house than to outsource it. So, our overall savings with switching our platforms and bringing everything in house resulted in about an 80 percent cost reduction," said Vargas.
"Our staff members do a little bit of everything," said Vargas. "We're librarians with a passion for the automobile trying to do extraordinary things."
The Revs Institute staff get help from interns and about 140 local volunteers in the Naples area.
"Our interns are from several of our local universities. They process collections, create online exhibits, and digitize collections for us," said Vargas. "Our volunteers do a lot of routine but essential duties. Our interns and volunteers are incredible."
About OCLC
OCLC is a nonprofit global library cooperative providing shared technology services, original research and community programs so that libraries can better fuel learning, research and innovation. Through OCLC, member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. Libraries gain efficiencies through OCLC's WorldShare, a complete set of library management applications and services built on an open, cloud-based platform. It is through collaboration and sharing of the world's collected knowledge that libraries can help people find answers they need to solve problems. Together as OCLC, member libraries, staff and partners make breakthroughs possible.