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Western Illinois University enters 135 millionth request into OCLC ILL service

Created on April 9, the 135 millionth request was for the book, Mothers Who Kill Their Children: Understanding the Acts of Moms from Susan Smith to the “Prom Mom” and was entered by Western Illinois University. It was filled on the same day by Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania.

The OCLC cooperative is celebrating 25 years of interlibrary loan in 2004. More than 7,000 libraries use the OCLC Interlibrary Loan service, which arranged 9.3 million loans in fiscal year 2002-2003. The 134 millionth request was produced March 8, 2004.

Western Illinois University Library
Albright College Library

Look for the Heritage Health Index Survey in July

In July 2004, the Heritage Health Index questionnaire will arrive at 16,000 archives, historical societies, libraries, museums and scientific organizations nationwide. This survey of the condition and preservation needs of collections will—for the first time—produce a national picture of the state of artistic, historic and scientific collections held by the full range of institutions that care for them.

It will provide baseline information that is needed to guide future preservation planning and programs, target urgent needs for increased funding, and establish a more secure future for the nation's cultural heritage. The Heritage Health Index is administered by Heritage Preservation in partnership with Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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OCLC links virtual reference, course management software and libraries

OCLC has completed the first phase of an e-learning pilot that joins the QuestionPoint virtual reference service with college and university course management software programs.

A select number of professors at Baylor University, City University Online, College of Charleston, Manhattanville College, Sage Colleges, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Nevada at Las Vegas and University of Edinburgh implemented links on their online course home pages to enable students’ access to OCLC’s QuestionPoint.

Advantages for students included being able to find resource material quickly and efficiently at the point of need without having to leave their particular course environment. Student reaction has been very positive, and librarians in the pilot report that students involved have begun using QuestionPoint in their other courses, which do not yet have a link.

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OCLC welcomes the following new member libraries

Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
OCLC Symbol: SCHEI
OCLC Network: PALINET

Guilin University of Electronic Technology
Location: Guilin, China
OCLC Symbol: CCGUN
OCLC Network: OCLC Asia Pacific

China National Import and Export Corporation Serials Department
Location: Beijing, China
OCLC Symbol: CNPIE
OCLC Network: OCLC Asia Pacific

Calgary Christian School
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
OCLC Symbol: CNCCS
OCLC Network: OCLC Canada

St. Joseph's College
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
OCLC Symbol: AESJC
OCLC Network: OCLC Canada

Membership guidelines and protocols

WorldCat update

Every 12 seconds an OCLC member library adds a new record to WorldCat, which contains more than 54 million records representing 921,083,636 holding locations as of April 17, 2004. Every 4 seconds an OCLC member library fills an interlibrary loan request using WorldCat, which has supported 135,235,707 interlibrary loan requests as of April 17, 2004. A library user searches WorldCat using the OCLC FirstSearch service every second.

See the latest WorldCat record

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