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Imagine sending an unexpected video call invite to ten colleagues at different organizations two years ago. My guess is that most would have been surprised, some annoyed. But after a year of working remotely, the response would be much different. And even as we transition back to working in person, that option will be one used more often going forward. Because in many circumstances, it\u2019s simply a smarter choice.<\/p>\n
So, why didn\u2019t we make that choice before?<\/p>\n
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I\u2019ve been thinking about what it takes to make smart choices a lot over the past year. I joined OCLC less than a month before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. I came in with a lot of expectations about how I was going to interact with OCLC members, including travel, face-to-face visits, and live focus groups. Well, you know how that turned out.<\/p>\n
Like everyone else, I had to make changes to how I did my job. And video calls ended up being a major part of that. While I\u2019ve deeply missed meeting with coworkers and colleagues in person, there have been countless benefits, like convening larger meetings, staying more easily in contact with folks from different regions, the ability to connect with more diverse groups, and so on.<\/p>\nOCLC\u2019s Peter Collins on how smart fulfillment helps inform faster, better #ResourceSharing <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n This gets me back to my earlier question\u2014why didn\u2019t we do more of this kind of engagement before the pandemic? The technology wasn\u2019t the issue. Most of us had smartphones or laptops with cameras and mics. It boils down to this: We didn\u2019t do it because we didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n As our resource sharing team lead, I\u2019ve been focused on developing smart fulfillment<\/a> capabilities for library services, which plays an important role in our overall \u201cLibrary on-demand<\/a>\u201d strategy. In many cases, that means improving the design of specific products so they do what library workers need and users expect\u2014but better, faster, and with more automation and personalization. Smart fulfillment optimizes delivery to meet library and user preferences. By weighing policy data, licensing agreements, lending history, and format preferences, and presenting what\u2019s available, the system can predict which location can deliver it fastest.<\/p>\n Smart fulfillment makes our services smarter by design. It allows libraries to implement dynamic, data-driven processes that deliver accurate options and recommendations based on immediate resource availability. But if you\u2019re just one library or one group or consortium, all those features would be the equivalent, two years ago, of having better video-conferencing apps but very few people to call. Advancing the technology is only one part of saving staff time, increasing delivery speed, and improving outcomes for library users.<\/p>\n The other vital element of successful smart fulfillment is the network itself\u2014the libraries and workers using it and the available centralized data that informs smart choices. Resource sharing, by definition, requires at least two libraries. And in what many of my colleagues call \u201cthe bad old days,\u201d that sharing was done manually, with little or no automation. My team sees startling instances of the difference between manual-vs-automated ILL lending activity all the time. Here are just two of the many examples.<\/p>\n As video calls became more prevalent during the pandemic and more people got comfortable with the process, it made me think about the power of peer networks. Once we all got zooming, it was no big deal and we all saved a lot of time. But it took a while to build up that momentum, and the knowledge that others, too, were already taking advantage of the technology.<\/p>\n Similarly, smart fulfillment features enable tens of thousands of automated requests to flow through the OCLC resource sharing network\u2014all without the need for any human intervention. But until you know that, it\u2019s harder to understand the benefits of the fantastic, joint arrangement between resource sharing partners to be smarter, together, by consensus.<\/p>\n In a year filled with many struggles and hardships, I was absolutely thrilled to see more than 1,000 resource sharing libraries qualify for and benefit from our new Express digital delivery program<\/a>. Express is for libraries that consistently deliver articles and other digital resources within 18 hours or less through OCLC\u2019s WorldShare ILL network. In fact, in the first three months of this year, Express libraries filled more than 100,000 requests in right around 10 hours. Express helps libraries instantly recognize other institutions that share their level of commitment.<\/p>\n And speaking of recognizing, I hope to recognize many of them (many of you!) in person soon and talk more about where we\u2019re headed with our smart fulfillment functionality. And when we meet, don\u2019t be surprised if I ask you to join a global user group session via video.<\/p>\n By that time, I may even have figured out how to get a cool digital background working for Zoom and Teams.<\/p>\nSmarter by design<\/h2>\n
Smarter together<\/h2>\n
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