OCLC Partnership
The Kokomo-Howard County Public Library announces a new partnership with OCLC, a nonprofit library organization that provides shared technologies and services to libraries worldwide.
With the partnership, KHCPL will implement OCLC Wise, the first community engagement system for U.S. public libraries. The estimated rollout is the fall of 2020.
Wise is an integrated system that uses data to support changes to the collection of materials KHCPL offers so they align with the community’s needs. Wise also creates new and more meaningful engagement opportunities between the library and patrons. For example, Wise allows patrons to review a list of topics and choose the ones that interest them. Then KHCPL will be able to share customized information with patrons, such as inviting them to library events related to subjects they enjoy.
Wise combines customer relationship management, marketing, and analytics with typical library management functionality, such as circulation and acquisitions of materials, into one holistic system.
“What I like most about Wise is that it is, at its center, about people,” KHCPL Director Faith Brautigam said. “Wise will allow KHCPL to connect and communicate with community members in natural, intuitive ways and will provide integrated data to guide us as we look to the future. Those capabilities will be an asset in creating opportunities for our community to become its best, which is our mission. Wise is a timely and powerful tool that I can’t wait to add to our toolkit.”
“We’re impressed by KHCPL’s focus on advancing the community — especially its commitment to local partnerships to support powerful programming,” said Mary Sauer-Games, OCLC Vice President, Global Product Management. “We’re happy to welcome KHCPL as a Wise early adopter. As our group of library partners expands, so does our commitment to provide a seamless implementation experience and ongoing opportunities to engage and collaborate.”
KHCPL joins a growing list of bold early adopters in the United States and is the second library to sign from Indiana. KHCPL joins Allen County Public Library in Indiana; Anythink Libraries in Colorado; Gwinnett County Public Library in Georgia; and the Orange County Library System in Florida. Seventy-five percent of public libraries in the Netherlands use Wise.
About OCLC
OCLC is a nonprofit global library cooperative providing shared technology services, original research, and community programs so that libraries can better fuel learning, research, and innovation. Through OCLC, member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. Libraries gain efficiencies through OCLC’s WorldShare, a complete set of library management applications and services built on an open, cloud-based platform. It is through collaboration and sharing of the world’s collected knowledge that libraries can help people find answers they need to solve problems. Together as OCLC, member libraries, staff, and partners make breakthroughs possible.