OCLC: “Global Library Discovery and Fulfillment: How We’re the Same, And How We Differ”

From an OCLC Next Article by Helene Blowers:

This year Global Council sponsored a survey to gather “Global Perspectives on Discovery and Fulfillment,” with a goal of gathering enough information from each of our three geographic regions to be able to make statistically significant comparisons if and when possible. I’m pleased to share that we hit that mark and can report back on a few interesting differences.

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The increase in global responses this year enabled us for the first time to learn more about our regional differences. First, some key differences in terms of library discovery:

• Respondents in the EMEA and APAC regions are more likely to report their users employing social media and Google Scholar always or frequently
• Respondents in the Americas are more likely to report their users employing Amazon/booksellers always or frequently
• EMEA reports higher Wikipedia use than the Americas and APAC as a frequently used way to discover resources

When it comes to fulfillment, we also found some interesting differences:

• Academic libraries in the Americas offered more streaming content, mobile delivery of digital content, and proxy delivery (pickup by neighbor/friend)
• Public libraries in the Americas and APAC offered more delivery of physical materials to local senior centers, mobile delivery of digital content, streaming content, and proxy delivery services.

Learn More, Read the Complete Article

Direct to Full Text Report Discussed in Article Above: Global Perspectives on Discovery and FulfillmentFindings from the 2020 OCLC Global Council Survey
by Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Christopher Cyr, and Peggy Gallagher
4 pages; PDF.

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries, Reports