OCLC PICA was a library automation systems and services company which originated from a co-operation of the Pica Foundation (Stichting Pica) of the Netherlands and the non-profit library company OCLC Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) of the U.S. In 2007, OCLC acquired the shares of OCLC PICA it did not already hold to become the sole owner of OCLC PICA. By the end of 2007, OCLC PICA lost its separate identity and was integrated with OCLC under the OCLC brand. [1]
A library is a collection of sources of information and similar resources, made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to material, and may be a physical building or room, or a virtual space, or both. A library's collection can include books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, films, maps, prints, documents, microform, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, e-books, audiobooks, databases, and other formats. Libraries range in size from a few shelves of books to several million items. In Latin and Greek, the idea of a bookcase is represented by Bibliotheca and Bibliothēkē : derivatives of these mean library in many modern languages, e.g. French bibliothèque.
The Pica Foundation was created in 1969 as an initiative of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the national library of the Netherlands, and several university libraries, in order to advance the Dutch Central Catalog (Nederlandse Centrale Catalogus). The acronym PICA stands for Project for Integrated Catalogue Automation.
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works. A National Library is that library which has the duty of collecting and preserving the literature of the nation within and outside the country. Thus, National Libraries are those libraries whose community is the nation at large. Examples include the British Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
In December 1997 Pica became part-owned by OCLC, and this was further consolidated in January 2002, at which time OCLC PICA also became responsible for all of OCLC's activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. At the time, OCLC held 60% of the shares in OCLC PICA, while the Pica foundation held 40%. In 2005 OCLC PICA acquired Sisis Information Systems of Germany and the Fretwell-Downing Informatics Group (developer of the VDX interlibrary loan software) of the UK. In 2007, OCLC acquired the remaining shares of OCLC PICA to become the sole shareholder of OCLC PICA.
VDX is a software product for interlibrary loan (ILL) and document request management. VDX was developed by UK company Fretwell-Downing Informatics, a company which in 2005 was taken over by OCLC PICA, itself wholly acquired by OCLC Online Computer Library Center in 2007.
Interlibrary loan is a service whereby a patron of one library can borrow books, DVDs, music, etc. and/or receive photocopies of documents that are owned by another library. The user makes a request with their home library; which, acting as an intermediary, identifies libraries with the desired item, places the request, receives the item, makes it available to the user, as well as arranges for its return. The lending library usually sets a due date and overdue fees of the material borrowed. Although books and journal articles are the most frequently requested items, some libraries will lend audio recordings, video recordings, maps, sheet music, and microforms of all kinds. In some cases, nominal fees accompany the interlibrary loan services.
OCLC PICA / OCLC EMEA employed over 200 people.
OCLC PICA software is used by the Netherlands union catalog, several German library consortia (including GBV, Hebis and SWB), the Australian national library, the French union catalog SUDOC and many other libraries. Sisis and Fretwell-Downing also have many notable customers in Germany, the UK and worldwide.
(This information is based on a rough translation of the German Wikipedia page 'PICA'.) de:PICA
