by Carol Nelson
Quick Summary
OCLC President and Chief Executive Officer makes announcements that will have significant impacts on some of the resource sharing community. OCLC has acquired Relais International. In addition, OCLC announces that it has launched the cloud-based product that will eventually replace ILLiad, Tipasa.
OCLC President and Chief Executive Officer, Skip Pritchard, announced developments that will have impacts on many in the resource sharing community. OCLC has acquired Relais International, a Canadian-based interlibrary loan system. Relais owner, Clare MacKeigan will join OCLC staff. The Relais D2D (Discovery to Delivery) product is used by many libraries for consortial interlibrary loan transactions.
OCLC also announced the launch of the cloud-based interlibrary loan management product that is intended to replace ILLiad. The new product will be called TipasaTM. Read Pritchard's announcement below and follow the links for more details about these changes on the OCLC website:
Dear colleagues,
We are kicking off 2017 with some exciting news about our resource sharing offerings.
I am pleased to welcome Relais International to the OCLC cooperative. Relais is the market leader in consortial borrowing. With this acquisition, we provide a long-term home for Relais’ best-in-class solution, which includes requestability logic that facilitates the highest fill rate in the industry. We are thrilled to have Clare MacKeigan from Relais, along with the rest of the Relais staff, join the OCLC team.
Read more about Relais
We have also announced the launch of Tipasa™, the first cloud-based ILL management system. Imagine a solution that is simple enough for your students to use, but sophisticated enough to handle your most complex requests. Because it’s cloud-based, it’s accessible anytime anywhere, requiring little-to-no IT resources. And, you can connect with users through their preferred communications channels such as texting.
Read more about Tipasa
Both of these solutions join WorldShare ILL, which is used by almost 7,000 libraries around the world to manage their core ILL activities. Whether your library needs to borrow items only occasionally, borrows hundreds of items a week or belongs to a group that wants to borrow/lend within your network, OCLC offers a modern and unparalleled solution.
I’d like to thank our colleagues from Relais, OCLC product and technology staff members, and the many ILL community members who have contributed to these exciting advancements in resource sharing. We have the best resource sharing community, we share the brightest talent and we deliver the most innovative solutions.
Over time, we will integrate these services with other OCLC services to create premier experiences for both members and users. We envision a world where libraries will need more from their “sharing” services. We are committed to building this future in partnership with you. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Skip Prichard
President & Chief Executive Officer
OCLC
