We bid them farewell, wish them success in their own efforts, and hope that their interest in OCLC will continue and grow. The August meeting followed the normal RAC format, wherein OR staff members present and demonstrate current and proposed research efforts, followed by periods of immediate feedback from the committee members. This was the second time the RAC members had received information on this project, which continues to provide further insight into the problem domain. This is a joint project between the Office of Research and Development, with OR providing the algorithm expertise. Current work is looking at the extent that commercial suppliers can be and are involved in ILL request fulfillment and attributes that can be used to predict availability of sought items.
Current effort is directed toward determining how best to take advantage of the work done to date.
Significant work has been done since the last RAC report in getting a first cut of the server and search systems working, as well as exploration of several possible user interface designs. The rapid pace of results gained even in the six months since the last RAC meeting was quite evident during these presentations. This meeting supplied strong evidence of OR s, as well as OCLC s, commitment to not just reacting to events in the world of networked information and libraries, but taking a proactive stance. The RAC members once again offered a series of well-informed suggestions and insights regarding not only the current projects, but ones that should be considered in the near term as well. Bradley Watson is consulting systems analyst, OCLC Office of Research.