SHEFFIELD, UK, 9 December 2020—The National College of Art and Design (NCAD), based in Dublin, Ireland, is now using OCLC's WorldShare Management Services as their library services platform to support their objectives of enhancing student experience and improving staff workflows.
An advanced, cloud-based library services platform, WorldShare Management Services (WMS) saves library staff time and resources by helping them easily manage electronic, digital, and physical materials, all in one interface. With WorldCat as its foundation, WMS allows for innovation, and contributing to and drawing on the collaborative data and work of libraries worldwide.
"NCAD selected WMS because we wanted to improve our staff workflows with less physical paperwork and fewer manual processes in place, allowing staff to spend time on other projects," said Donna Romano, Head Librarian at NCAD. "We also wanted to provide a better online catalog for our students, with a single-search option rather than requiring students to search multiple databases. The new system will also allow us to highlight our special and donated collections. And the reports functionality is going to be very beneficial for us in our decision-making processes going forward."
"We have been live with WMS for several weeks and the transfer to the new system has been excellently managed by OCLC's Implementation team. We are very impressed with both the efficiencies and functionality that the system offers," said Romano.
NCAD has origins dating as far back as 1746. In 1996, NCAD became a recognized college of the National University of Ireland, and of University College Dublin in 2011. With 1,000 students and four schools focusing on different aspects of art and design, their mission is to "change the world through bold and curious thinking, making, and doing."
The Edward Murphy Library houses more than 100,000 books, pamphlets, video material, periodicals, and exhibition catalogs, and the National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL) holds special collections based around Irish visual art and design of the 20th and 21st centuries.
"We are delighted to welcome NCAD as part of the WMS community. With WMS, the NCAD will be positioned to improve the student experience and staff efficiencies, and will be able to use reports and analytics to make more evidence-based decisions about their collections," said Eric van Lubeek, Vice President, Managing Director, OCLC EMEA & APAC.
More about WorldShare Management Services is on the website.
About NCAD
The National College of Art and Design occupies a unique position in Art and Design Education in Ireland. It offers the largest range of Art and Design degrees in the State at undergraduate and postgraduate level and is the only Irish University institution specialising in Art and Design. Many of the most important Irish artists, designers, and art teachers have studied or taught in the College. For over 270 years NCAD has represented excellence in art and design education. Our role has continually evolved to reflect the needs of community and industry, enabling NCAD to imagine future possibilities and shape the world around us.
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.