[I'm not trying to dismiss your post from yesterday, Steve. I just wanted to post this before I forget.]

This came in an email from OCLC:

“OCLC has begun a pilot within the Open WorldCat program to facilitate the online purchase of books identified through Open WorldCat. Web searchers in the United States that reach Open WorldCat from popular search engines or other Web resources may use a book buying link to purchase books through Baker & Taylor, a leading provider of books, videos, music and other services to libraries, retailers and other resellers.

“This new component of the Open WorldCat program not only connects Web searchers with the materials they need; it also delivers a financial benefit to libraries that participate in the program. Each time a Web searcher purchases a book through Open WorldCat, a portion of the proceeds will be shared with Open WorldCat libraries in one of two ways. The purchaser decides online whether to apply a credit directly to the account of a selected Open WorldCat participant library or to redirect the credit to support the ongoing development of Open WorldCat for the benefit of all participating libraries.

“In the introductory phase of book purchasing through Open WorldCat, Baker & Taylor is the single supplier of books….”

This strikes me as singularly against the grain of what the OCLC database should be for. There seems to be a problem with the fact that OCLC is not a government project – not a Library of Congress system – and that problem allows the private company to act as a gateway for book sellers.

Baker & Taylor’s sales will, no doubt, go up from this. This is another instance of a selector’s choice being quietly taken away; won’t library administrations support using this purchase option in order to avoid the staff time needed to search for, and purchase, the item elsewhere?

Libraries are becoming entangled in corporations to the degree that we can barely differentiate between functions.

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