Skip Prichard
and then a global hub for information. Today, the information you’re looking for may be just as relevant if it was published in Thailand. … You may find something in the Middle East or something in Europe; wherever that information is. If you’re doing research or you’re doing something in a library looking for information, you want an answer. You don’t care where it came from; you just want to get that answer. We facilitate the getting and using of information through libraries or through the web, back to the library.
Q: How does OCLC serve libraries?
A: We power tens of thousands of libraries around the world in various ways, through data and technology, and I think most people in Columbus don’t know that the largest library global organization is here in their backyard, serving libraries all over the world, and that the type of library that may be served is also incredibly wide-ranging. We often think of public libraries, you’re thinking of how to access a book, but there’s academic libraries and law libraries, medical libraries, corporate libraries, scientific libraries. We’re involved in all of that. … We’re the world’s largest library cooperative. In terms of library cooperation, that’s what we do. That’s how we started. That’s in our DNA. We really help libraries do what they couldn’t do individually but they can do collectively.
Q: How is OCLC supported?
A: We sell subscriptions and services to libraries, and that is how we fund our business. It is a not-for-profit global software and data business, and it has been that way since we were founded.
Q: Does your leadership blog relate to your work at OCLC?
A: I started that blog as a way to share ideas and inspiration and information. I meet and talk to a variety of people. I’m a big reader. I read at least a book a day. I don’t sleep much; I read. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to all grow together. I may not agree even with everything that I share, but I share ideas that other people Title: President and
CEO, OCLC
Address: 6565 Kilgour Place, Dublin
Previous: President and CEO, Ingram Content Group; chief operating officer, Ingram Book Group; president and CEO, ProQuest information & Learning; senior vice president, ProQuest; vice president, LexisNexis Education: Towson University, B.S. political science; University of Baltimore School of Law, JD
Business: Nonprofit global library cooperative; with its more than 16,000 members in 124 countries, maintains WorldCat database on library collections; also maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system
Founded: 1967, originally as Ohio College Library Center, then incorporated as OCLC Online Computer Library Center, now known just as OCLC
Employees: 750 at headquarters; 1,200 worldwide
Other locations: 20, including Beijing, China; Melbourne, Australia; Leiden, the Netherlands; Oberhaching, Germany; Sheffield, United Kingdom
Annual revenue: $208 million (FY 2017)
Website: oclc.org are bringing forward and we can all grow together. My mission is always looking at potential, and closing that potential. … That site is a way to help you work on you, not just on your job. I find it extraordinarily motivating to do that, so sure, hold me accountable to what I’m saying, and vice versa. Together, we will all grow. I’ve written a lot on servant leadership, and that’s the way I like to lead, through service, through serving others; through serving our members and our community and our customers, through serving employees. If we all serve each other, everybody gets better and better.