Sustainable Collection Services snapped up by OCLC

OCLC has acquired Sustainable Collection Services (SCS), a company dedicated to helping libraries manage their print collections.

OCLC maintains WorldCat, which it says is the largest aggregation of library data in the world, as well as the world's largest library resource sharing network. SCS services use WorldCat data and analytics to show individual libraries and library consortia which titles should be kept locally, which can be discarded, and which are the best candidates for shared collections.

'OCLC and SCS have worked as strategic partners to help libraries manage print materials since 2011,' said Skip Prichard, OCLC president and CEO. 'By bringing together the innovative services of SCS, the power of WorldCat and the thought leadership of OCLC Research, we can move quickly to build services to address this critical need for libraries.'

'Our partnership with OCLC has been vital to SCS since our first day of operation,' said Rick Lugg, executive director for SCS. 'We rely on WorldCat to provide libraries the holdings data that is critical to intelligent collection management decisions. As part of OCLC, we will expand and extend our analytics capabilities, develop new products, and serve more libraries than we could ever reach on our own.'

Constance Malpas, OCLC research scientist, added: 'Interest in shared print management among OCLC member libraries reflects a growing awareness that long-term preservation of the published record can be organized as a collective effort. Working together, OCLC and SCS can significantly accelerate our efforts in collection management and shared print projects.'

All four SCS staff members will join OCLC as employees.