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Oclc Inc

EIN 31-0734115 · Dublin, OH

Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.

LegitimacyPassesRegistration and standingFinancial healthGood86 out of 100GovernanceStrong90 out of 100Impact evidenceDescribes programsHow well its results are evidenced

Points to look into

  • It reported loans to or from officers, directors or other insiders.

These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.

What it says it does

OCLC'S MISSION CENTERS ON USING TECHNOLOGY AND DATA TO PROMOTE ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE. WE CONNECT INDIVIDUALS, ORGANIZATIONS, LIBRARIES, AND COMMUNITIES TO A VAST ARRAY OF INFORMATION RESOURCES, ENABLING THEM TO EXPLORE, LEARN, (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O)AND TRANSFORM. OUR NETWORK PROVIDES ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON A GLOBAL SCALE TO ENHANCE AND SHARE THE COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF HUMANITY.

Income
$273.3 million
Spending
$268.5 million
Spent on programs
90%
Reserves
10 months of spending
Largest source of income
fees for its services, 95%
Employees
1,037
Volunteers
0
Highest pay
$1.5 million, president & ceo

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Financial health

Good: 86 out of 100. Higher than 79% of charities in its peer group (education, over $100m).

  • Reserves

    28 of 35

    Spendable reserves would cover 10.0 months of spending.

  • Debt

    16 of 20

    It owes 30% of what it owns.

  • Living within its means

    12 of 15

    Income exceeded spending by 2% of income.

  • Income trend

    15 of 15

    Income rose 6% on the year before.

  • Spending floor

    15 of 15

    90% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Governance

Strong: 90 out of 100. Higher than 14% of charities in its peer group (education, over $100m).

  • Independent board

    25 of 25

    13 of 14 voting board members are independent.

  • Conflict of interest policy

    15 of 15

    Has a written conflict of interest policy.

  • Whistleblower policy

    8 of 8

    Has a written whistleblower policy.

  • Record keeping policy

    7 of 7

    Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.

  • Board minutes

    5 of 5

    Keeps minutes of board meetings.

  • Board sees the tax return

    10 of 10

    Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.

  • Pay set independently

    5 of 5

    Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.

  • Independent check of accounts

    15 of 15

    Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.

  • No reported misuse

    0 of 10

    Reports at least one of: diversion of assets, excess benefits, loans to insiders.

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Impact evidence

Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.

Programs described in its return (1)
  1. $241.3 million spent. OCLC IS A NONPROFIT GLOBAL LIBRARY ORGANIZATION PROVIDING SHARED TECHNOLOGY SERVICES, ORIGINAL RESEARCH, AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS SO THAT LIBRARIES CAN BETTER FUEL LEARNING, RESEARCH, AND INNOVATION. THROUGH OCLC, MEMBER LIBRARIES COOPERATIVELY PRODUCE AND MAINTAIN WORLDCAT, THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE GLOBAL NETWORK OF DATA ABOUT LIBRARY COLLECTIONS AND SERVICES. LIBRARIES GAIN EFFICIENCIES THROUGH OCLC'S WORLDSHARE, A COMPLETE SET OF LIBRARY MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS AND SERVICES BUILT ON AN OPEN, CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM. IT IS THROUGH COLLABORATION AND SHARING OF THE WORLD'S COLLECTED KNOWLEDGE THAT LIBRARIES CAN HELP PEOPLE FIND ANSWERS THEY NEED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O)IN FY25, OCLC HELPED LIBRARIES AROUND THE GLOBE RESPOND TO TECHNOLOGICAL, FISCAL, AND SOCIAL CHANGES. WE RESPONDED TO THE EMERGENCE OF THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REVOLUTION BY RESPONSIBLY DEPLOYING AI TO DELIVER MEASURABLE IMPROVEMENT TO LIBRARY SERVICES. WE ANSWERED THE CALL OF LIBRARIES FACING FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTY BY CONTINUING TO CREATE SOFTWARE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO MAKE LIBRARIES MORE EFFICIENT. WE DEEPENED OUR PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE LIBRARY COMMUNITY THROUGH SALES, PRODUCT, AND RESEARCH SUCCESSES AS TOGETHER WE EXPLORE WAYS IN WHICH LIBRARIES CAN EVOLVE TO MEET THE NEW NEEDS OF THEIR COMMUNITIES.WORLDCAT: WORLDCAT IS THE CORNERSTONE OF OUR SERVICES FOR LIBRARIES. IT IS THE WORLD'S MOST COMPREHENSIVE DATABASE OF INFORMATION ABOUT LIBRARY COLLECTIONS. WITH MORE THAN 600 MILLION BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORDS REPRESENTING 3.5 BILLION ITEMS IN LIBRARY COLLECTIONS AROUND THE WORLD, WORLDCAT AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE TO FIND AND ACCESS LIBRARY COLLECTIONS. IT ALLOWS LIBRARIES TO DRAMATICALLY REDUCE TIME SPENT ON CATALOGING AND COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT BY UNIQUELY ENABLING LIBRARIES TO SHARE METADATA CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LIBRARIES, PUBLISHERS, AND OCLC. IN FY25, 405 MILLION NEW BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORDS WERE CREATED, AND 16.6 MILLION RECORDS WERE EXPORTED SAVING PARTICIPATING LIBRARIES 2.7 MILLION STAFF HOURS LAST YEAR. THESE SAVINGS ARE THE RESULT OF SIGNIFICANT AND ONGOING TECHNOLOGY AND STAFF INVESTMENTS BY OCLC. LAST YEAR FOR EXAMPLE, OCLC STAFF AND TECHNOLOGIES IMPROVED THE QUALITY OF 366.9 MILLION WORLDCAT BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORDS, WHILE LIBRARIES IMPROVED THE QUALITY OF AN ADDITIONAL 2.4 MILLION RECORDS. THESE QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS CREATE ADDITIONAL TIME SAVINGS FOR CATALOGING LIBRARIES AND IMPROVED THE DISCOVERABILITY OF AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION FOR LIBRARY USERS. E-RESOURCES ARE A CENTRAL COMPONENT OF WORLDCAT SERVICES. AT THE END OF FY25, WORLDCAT INCLUDED INFORMATION ON 139 MILLION OPEN ACCESS ITEMS AND HAD 4 BILLION RECORDS THAT CONTAIN ARTICLE METADATA WITH LINKS TO FULL TEXT. TO SUPPORT LIBRARIES IN THEIR CONTINUING ADOPTION OF LINKED DATA RECORD FORMATS, OCLC INTRODUCED 189 MILLION WORLDCAT ENTITIES URIS ACROSS 300 MILLION WORLDCAT RECORDS. THESE LINKED DATA ENTITIES FORM THE BACKBONE OF IMPROVED DISCOVERABILITY FOR LIBRARY USERS BY IDENTIFYING PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT LIBRARY ITEMS. OCLC CATALOGING APPLICATIONS WORLDSHARE RECORD MANAGER AND CONNEXION WERE ENHANCED TO ALLOW LIBRARIES TO ADD WORLDCAT ENTITIES URIS DIRECTLY INTO WORLDCAT MARC RECORDS. DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM: AS PART OF OUR LINKED DATA STRATEGY, WE UNLOCKED THE POWER OF THE DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION (DDC) SYSTEM BY CREATING UNIFORM RESOURCE IDENTIFIERS (URIS) FOR DEWEY NUMBERS. AS THE FOUNDATION FOR "CONCEPT" ENTITIES, THIS DEWEY LINKED DATA PROVIDES SUBJECT CLASSIFICATIONS TO WORKS ENTITIES IN WORLDCAT ENTITIES, CREATING A LAYER OF NEW RELATIONSHIPS FOR KNOWLEDGE GRAPHS THAT POWER DISCOVERY.RESOURCE SHARING SERVICES: RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WAS THE HALLMARK OF OCLC'S WORK IN RESOURCE SHARING IN FY25. BY ANALYZING LENDING PATTERNS WITHIN THE OCLC DATA NETWORK, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DRAMATICALLY REDUCE FULFILLMENT TIMES ACROSS ALL OCLC RESOURCE SHARING PLATFORMS. INTELLIGENT TIMING WAS THE MOST RECENT FEATURE DEVELOPED WITH OCLC'S RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION APPROACH. IT LEVERAGES AI, MACHINE LEARNING, AND REAL-TIME DATA TO OPTIMIZE LENDER SELECTION BASED ON A LIBRARY'S ACTUAL PROCESSING HOURS. OTHER AUTOMATIONS LIKE KNOWLEDGE BASE COVERAGE CHECK MAKE LIBRARY STAFF MORE EFFICIENT BY AUTOMATICALLY DECLINING ILL REQUESTS THAT ARE NOT WITHIN A LIBRARY'S COLLECTION OR LICENSE TERMS TO LEND.WORLDSHARE MANAGEMENT SERVICES: LIBRARIES AROUND THE WORLD CONTINUED TO GROW AND SUPPORT WORLDSHARE MANAGEMENT SERVICES (WMS), THE FIRST CLOUD-BASED LIBRARY SERVICES PLATFORM. MORE THAN 50 NEW LIBRARIES SELECTED WMS AS THEIR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN FY25. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION CONTINUES TO BE STRONG WITH A PROMINENT US-BASED THIRD-PARTY USER SURVEY RANKING WMS HIGHEST AMONG ITS COMPETITORS FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, LOYALTY, CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND OVERALL FUNCTIONALITY. WORLDCAT DISCOVERY: WORLDCAT DISCOVERY HELPS PEOPLE FIND AND GET RESOURCES IN THEIR LIBRARY AND LIBRARIES WORLDWIDE THROUGH A SINGLE SEARCH. THE WORLDCAT DISCOVERY'S CENTRAL INDEX IS THE HEART OF THE DISCOVERY EXPERIENCE BY PRESENTING TO RESEARCHERS A SINGLE, GLOBAL DATA SET OF ARTICLES, DOCUMENTS, BOOKS, AND OTHER OBJECTS TO DISCOVER. IN FY25, 30 NEW CONTENT COLLECTIONS FROM SEVEN CONTENT PROVIDERS WERE ADDED TO THE WORLDCAT DISCOVERY CENTRAL INDEX. AT THE END OF FY25, WE HAD AGREEMENTS WITH 433 PUBLISHERS AND INFORMATION PROVIDERS TO INCLUDE METADATA FOR 3,413 COLLECTIONS OF BOOKS, E-BOOKS, JOURNALS, DATABASES, AND OTHER MATERIALS FROM THESE GLOBAL PUBLISHERS TO THE CENTRAL INDEX, REPRESENTING MORE THAN 5.1 BILLION RECORDS. THE WORLDCAT KNOWLEDGE BASE GOVERNS ACCESS TO LIBRARY ELECTRONIC MATERIALS BASED ON AN INDIVIDUAL LIBRARY'S LICENSE AGREEMENTS WITH PUBLISHERS. AT THE END OF FY25, THE KNOWLEDGE BASE INCLUDED 31,904 COLLECTIONS FROM 693 CONTENT PROVIDERS AND MORE THAN 94 MILLION RECORDS. THIS REPRESENTS A 10% GROWTH IN COLLECTIONS AND 15% GROWTH IN RECORDS COMPARED TO FY24. NEW AGREEMENTS WITH SAGE PUBLISHING, OXFORD UNIVERSI

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Legitimacy checks

  1. Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.

    Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  2. Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.

    Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.

    Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  3. Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.

    On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

    Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  4. Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.

    Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  5. How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.

    Recognized by the IRS since May 1970.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.

  6. Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.

    Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.

    Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.

Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.