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WorldShare Management Services

This dashboard brings together data, trends, news, and other resources from Library Technology Guides describing the product and the libraries in which it has has been implemented, its geographic presence, statistics of sales and installations, and satisfaction ratings from libraries that use it.

WorldShare Management Services is an Integrated Library System offered by OCLC.

WorldShare Management Services product logo
OCLC product logo

[vendor profile]

WorldShare Management Services has been installed in 719 libraries, spanning 911 facilities or branches)

WorldShare Management Services implementations by Type of Library

[Data source: statistics derived from the libraries.org directory of libraries]

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Distribution of WorldShare Management Services sites by Country

[Data source: statistics derived from the libraries.org directory of libraries]

View Map of Library Installations


System migration patterns for WorldShare Management Services

[Data source: statistics derived from the libraries.org directory of libraries]

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View Report of WorldShare Management Services Selections and De-Selections


Sales Statistics for WorldShare Management Services

[Data source: statistics reported for the Annual Library Systems Report]

Sales and Installation Statistics for WorldShare Management Services
Product NameCompanyNameProduct TypeYearContractsLibrariesInstalled
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20246483782
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20233740752
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20224084698
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20214244676
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20204446632
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20195676604
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20185356565
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20175254521
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20168397440
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20156873386
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20147990303
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System201392140177
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System201216373
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System201118438
WorldShare Management Services OCLCIntegrated Library System20101305

View detailed annual sales report for WorldShare Management Services

WorldShare Management Services Satisfaction Ratings

[Data source: International Survey of Library Automation]

2021 WorldShare Management Services Responses by Sector
WorldShare Management ServicesallAcademicPublicSchoolConsortium
smallmediumlargesmallmediumlarge
navgnavgnavgnavgnavgnavgnavgnavgnavg
SatisfactionLevelILS1226.78 447.05286.79106.7010012
ILSFunctionality1226.89 447.41286.93106.5010012
PrintFunctionality1217.40 447.52287.86107.0010012
ElectronicFunctionality1226.52 446.75286.25106.6010012
SatisfactionCustomerSupport1226.67 447.05286.89106.5010012
CompanyLoyalty1206.63 447.32286.7596.4410012


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Documents or articles featuring WorldShare Management Services

Breeding, Marshall. OCLC Attracts Another ARL Member. February 2019. Smart Libraries Newsletter. OCLC has also announced that McGill University Library in Canada has opted to replace its Aleph integrated library system from Ex Libris with WorldShare Management Services. This library implemented WorldCat Local as its discovery interface in 2009. McGill becomes the fourth member of the Association of Research Libraries to select WorldShare Management Services; the University of Delaware, University of New Mexico and the University of Louisville had previously selected the product.

Breeding, Marshall. A Progress Report on Library Services Platforms. August 2016. Smart Libraries Newsletter. Although each of the products offers its distinct approach to functionality and technology infrastructure, there are a set of products that have diverged significantly from the well-established category of ILSs. Many of these characteristics arise out of the current technology paradigm centered on services deployed entirely through the Web, oriented to collaboration and social interactions, and powered by massive data stores.

Breeding, Marshall. Shared Infrastructure Projects Gain Momentum. September 2015. Smart Libraries Newsletter. Recent months have seen a number of announcements of large consortia or library systems that have chosen to implement library services platforms in a shared configuration. Ex Libris Alma has emerged as the leading product in this sector, with Innovative's Sierra, OCLC WorldShare Management Services and ProQuest Intota also represented.

Breeding, Marshall. Beyond the ILS: A New Generation of Library Services Platforms. 2013. Robots in Academic Libraries: Advancements in Library Automation. This chapter focuses on the changes in integrated library systems (ILS) over the past thirty years as the focus shifts from collecting physical items to electronic and digital materials. The relationship between the ILS and new specialized applications, including link resolvers, knowledge bases of e-content, electronic resource management systems, digital asset management systems, discovery services, and institutional repository platforms is discussed and placed in context. In addition to looking at workflows with these new systems, a general discussion of how academic libraries are likely to engage with these new systems, the time frames in which we can expect availability and widespread adoption, and any cautions or concerns to have in mind when selecting or implementing these systems.

Breeding, Marshall. OCLC Launches the WorldShare Brand and Wins an ARL Member. March 2012. Smart Libraries Newsletter. OCLC announced WorldShare License Manager based on the OCLC WorldShare Platform to offer a complete set of services to help libraries manage their subscriptions to electronic resources. This product makes use of the OCLC WorldCat knowledge base, which holds data describing the universe of specific holdings that can be accessed via the electronic resource packages available to libraries. Functionality offered by the WorldShare License Manager includes selection, acquisition, and management of electronic resources as well as link resolution. The application manages related to vendors, subscription details, license terms, and access restrictions.

Breeding, Marshall. OCLC WorldShare Platform: OCLC Brands and Strengthens its Webscale Strategy. December 5, 2011. Information Today. OCLC has been promoting its Web-scale Management Services as an alternative to traditional library management systems and it has created a new technology platform to support both its own automation services as well as those created by library developers. Significant activity has been churning around these activities, with the initial version of the library automation services complete and 32 libraries now using it as their production platform. OCLC has now launched a new brand around these efforts: OCLC WorldShare.

Breeding, Marshall. OCLC Web-scale Management Services enters Adoption Cycle. October 2010. Smart Libraries Newsletter. The emergence of a new library management platform from OCLC represents a potential change of major proportions in the library automation industry. Given the size and reach of OCLC, its new entry into the field marks a major event. In recent weeks, this system has shifted from concept to practice as it begins to find production use. Beginning July 1, the WMS became available to libraries willing to be early adopters. Lupton Library of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is on track to become the first library to implement OCLC’s new Web-scale Management Services as its production automation system.

Breeding, Marshall. OCLC Reveals its Strategy for Library Automation. June 2009. Smart Libraries Newsletter. In a move that has stirred some controversy in the library automation industry, OCLC has announced that it will extend WorldCat Local, initially positioned primarily as a discovery tool, to provide a complete suite of services for the automation of libraries. Work is now underway to create services associated with WorldCat Local that perform circulation, resource fulfillment, acquisitions, and license management. Taken together, these services will obviate the need for a library to operate its own integrated library system.

Breeding, Marshall. OCLC Enters Fray with New Library System. 5/15/2009. Library Journal Online. In a bold move that could reshape the library automation landscape, OCLC has expanded WorldCat Local’s existing cataloging and discovery tools with new circulation, delivery, and acquisitions features. This new project, which OCLC calls “the first web-scale, cooperative library management service,” will ultimately bring into WorldCat Local the full complement of functions traditionally performed by a locally installed integrated library system (ILS) and, OCLC says, at a lower cost.

Breeding, Marshall. In Challenge to ILS Industry, OCLC Extends WorldCat Local To Launch New Library System. April 23, 2009. Library Journal Online. In a bold move that could reshape the library automation landscape, OCLC has expanded WorldCat Local’s existing cataloging and discovery tools with new circulation, delivery, and acquisitions features. This new project, which OCLC calls "the first Web-scale, cooperative library management service," will ultimately bring into WorldCat Local the full complement of functions traditionally performed by a locally installed integrated library system (ILS). OCLC’s vision involves shifting increasing portions of activity managed library-by-library through locally or consortially implemented automation systems to the network level, subsumed under the global WorldCat infrastructure.

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News Anouncements for WorldShare Management Services

WISPALS Library Consortium selects OCLC's WorldShare Management Services as its library services platform
January 9, 2025 - The WISPALS Library Consortium, a consortium of Wisconsin technical colleges, has selected WorldShare Management Services as its library services platform. WMS will help WISPALS libraries improve efficiency, share resources, and provide a better user experience for students and faculty.

10 libraries in Alberta to join OCLC's WorldShare Management Services community
December 9, 2024 - libraries from the NEOS Library Consortium in Alberta, Canada, are moving to OCLC's WorldShare Management Services, the fully integrated library services platform designed to meet the needs of modern libraries. NEOS is a consortium of government, health, college, and university libraries that cooperate to share library resources, technology, collections, and workflows. Consortium libraries work together on learning initiatives, document delivery, and a range of core library activities.

Heidelberg University Library selects OCLC's WorldShare Management Services as its new library services platform
August 7, 2024 - OCLC announced that internationally esteemed Heidelberg University Library has selected WorldShare Management Services (WMS) as its cloud-based library services platform. Heidelberg's selection of WMS follows an extensive review of the modern, next-generation platform.

CEU selects OCLC's WorldShare Management Services to manage 20 libraries that serve over 96,000 users in Spain
May 28, 2024 - The Fundación Universitaria San Pablo CEU has selected OCLC's WorldShare Management Services as its fully integrated library services platform to handle all essential functions of its diverse institutions' libraries in Spain. In addition to providing a library services platform to bring CEU libraries together, OCLC will create a single catalog of collections from participating institutions to search through one interface.

Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf is now live with OCLC's WorldShare Management Services
March 7, 2024 - The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, a research institution in Germany, is now live with OCLC's WorldShare Management Services, the fully integrated library services platform designed to meet the needs of modern libraries. The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf conducts research in the fields of energy, health, and matter. The HZDR library is part of the K10plus, a union catalog that brings together more than 200 million holdings of print and digital media from academic libraries in 10 federal states; the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation; and other academic, research, and cultural institutions. Partners include most German state universities and colleges, and institutions such as the Helmholtz Centers.

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