On Libraries and New Media, powered by Library Journal and School Library Journal
The Cleveland Public Library is working to make its main branch a destination for residents living, working, and visiting downtown, and TechCentral, the $1 million technology center that opened on June 14 featuring 90 desktop workstations, loanable iPads, Kindles, and other devices, cloud-computing services, a 70-inch “interactive tech wall,” and more, is a big first step.
Cloud computing can be defined in a number of ways, making it confusing for librarians to understand what is available and what it delivers. Although computer scientists and technologists may have a strict definition of cloud computing involving “on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources” (see the NIST Definition of Cloud Computing), for non-IT librarians it’s enough to think about cloud computing as library data and services hosted beyond the library’s walls and accessible via the web. More and more electronic resources and software used in libraries are hosted in the cloud.
The University of Delaware Library is switching to the cloud-based OCLC WorldShare Management Services. Some 33 libraries have begun using OCLC WorldShare Management Services since its launch in July 2011 (as Web-scale Management Services; OCLC rebranded it in December 2011). Some 117 libraries worldwide have committed to using the service. However the University of Delaware […]
