Climbing Out of the Box and Into the Cloud: Building Web-Scale for Libraries.

Libraries have made significant investments in computer resources and infrastructure. They now incur the costs of supporting an array of systems across workflows for print, licensed, and digital materials. Similarly, libraries have fragmented presences on the Web, where they must compete with search engines and other information resources in meeting the information needs of people. The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) is building its next generation of services in the computing cloud, where applications and data are stored on the Internet rather than on a local computer, and libraries can use an application without having to worry about the supporting technology. Web-scale services will provide libraries with powerful new applications and services when and where needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]