Oberhaching, Germany -- 7 August 2024. OCLC announced today that internationally esteemed Heidelberg University Library has selected WorldShare Management Services (WMS) as its cloud-based library services platform. Heidelberg's selection of WMS follows an extensive review of the modern, next-generation platform.
Heidelberg University Library is the oldest and one of the largest university libraries in Germany. Its beginnings date back to the founding of the university in 1386. Together with 36 institute and faculty libraries, the main library in the old town and the medical and natural sciences branch in Neuenheimer Feld form the university's library system and serve 30,000 students and 6,500 academics. The collection covers all subject areas and includes 6.1 million printed volumes, 920,000 e-books, 156,000 e-journals, and 3,900 databases.
WMS is a fully integrated library services platform based on WorldCat to meet the needs of modern libraries. WMS enables libraries to make their workflows and processes more flexible and efficient, saving resources and making the best use of limited funds. Tailored to the local needs of German academic libraries, WMS combines all workflows in a modular way under one interface.
"In our search for a successor system, we looked closely at the requirements of our library in order to be able to offer even more efficient and user-friendly services. It was important for us to select an economical system that also covers all our requirements in the best possible way. And we are confident that we will achieve this with WMS, especially since we have been working with OCLC since 2005," said Dr. Jochen Apel, Director of Heidelberg University Library.
"We are happy and proud to welcome Heidelberg University Library, one of the most renowned and respected university libraries in Germany, to our community of more than 850 WMS libraries worldwide," said Eric van Lubeek, OCLC Vice President, Global Library Services. "We appreciate Heidelberg University Library's confidence in OCLC and WMS, and we're confident that WMS will deliver the services the library needs to support the success of university students and faculty."
More about WorldShare Management Services is on the OCLC website.
About OCLC
OCLC is a nonprofit global library organization that provides 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.