OCLC and the Great Library Scandal is a good introduction and there’s a summary of the Talis Podcast about OCLC WorldCat Record Use Policy with Karen Clahoun and Roy Tennant which reveals some of the OCLC thinking.

Just like CC and Open Source? Still “No” is a great illustration of how some librarians think OCLC is reaching the wrong conclusion, which then leads to asking Is OCLC truly cooperative? and What would it look like if OCLC was broken up?

A commenter on Tom Watson: Library data asks: “Why would libraries play this game?” Well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and this road has taken 40 years. First off, OCLC is essentially a good idea - libraries cooperating to act as a counter-weight to the large library service companies.

However, I believe OCLC predates many recent company rule innovations (stronger common asset locks) and data licensing innovations (Share-Alike, Fiduciary Licensing and the general free and open source software movements), so there’s nothing to stop them trying to privatise the assets (library data) that the libraries have given to OCLC and it was only a matter of time before someone tried.

I’m having a similar discussion with another organisation that has been given data by its members under vague terms and is now apparently about to exploit that data for the organisation’s benefit, to the detriment of some members. TTLLP is a member but has not contributed much data because I was suspicious of the lack of terms.

In time, hopefully, asset locks and more awareness of data licensing will eliminate these problems, but there’s going to be a lot more people getting burnt first.

Finally, a quick shout-out to the Open Library Environment as a possible emerging alternative to OCLC for practical services. Raw Thought: Stealing Your Library: The OCLC Powergrab covers some of its motivation (and includes a link to a petition to OCLC, if you want something to sign), but I share Stefano’s (now there’s someone I’d not read in 7 or so years) analysis of some of the challenges:

“any grass-root approach that will get big enough to take on OCLC on the metadata collection and redistribution service that libraries need will have to incorporate under the pressure of its users (if only for legal liability protection) and will have to find an answer to the same set of problems (policy, governance, financial sustainability) that OCLC has.”

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While I was talking to him, I was checking the shop he had problems with. I wouldn’t have bought from it. Here’s how I checked it:-

1. Check the Page

Open the front page of the site in one browser window and then use another window to get to a page that ought to be secure (the payment/checkout page is my usual one). Look at them both. Do either of them show any logos from well-known payment (Barclays, RBS, Protx, …) or security-checking services (thawte - who else?)? That’s not entirely reliable, but it’s usually a good sign because those companies attack people using their marks without permission.

Look at the payment/checkout page - does the address in the address bar start “https”? If so, is the padlock in the browser status bar (usually bottom right) closed? That usually means it’s encrypted with a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.

2. Check the Certificate

Open the certificate details. In Firefox-based browsers, double-click the padlock, then click the “View Certificate” button. Then pick “Subject” in the second list box. Usually, it looks like this:-

Basic Certificate Screenshot

Some shops now use Extended Validation certificates and give a bit more information. Here’s one from a train company:-

Extended Validation Screenshot

3. Check the Registrations

By this point, the payment processing and actual transaction are looking pretty good. Finally, I check the recipient. Find the business details on the web shop. Does it include a geographic address? If it contains a company registration number, look it up on the Companies House website.

Then I find the business details on the domain names - you can use CoolWhois to look up domain names. If any of the addresses or numbers don’t match (Website, SSL Certificate, Whois), then I call them to ask why their website says they’re based in Bristol but their domain name is registered to Bolton. If they don’t answer messages, or - worse - the domain name says “Non-trading Individual” and the address has been omitted from the public listing, I give up on them and look for another shop. There’s no point securely paying someone that you can never reach if there’s a problem.

4. Buy Stuff and Check the Statements

All being well, I then buy stuff and check my credit card statement each month before I pay it. I think any web shop owner (or webmaster - I help some people with this sort of thing) should be taking care of the basics above. Do your shops measure up?

Despite the above checks, I can only remember not buying something online once in the last year. A couple of times, I’ve worked through the above steps and it’s changed which shop I bought from - and I’m pretty sure it saved me from losing £400 on one purchase.

Education, training and information is fifth principle of co-operative. All the co-operative members throughout the globe along with light of cooperation. In a present era of globalization the co-operative teaching/learning almost coinciding all the places. knowledge and sophistication through co-operatives made world people unite for peace and better world. Enlightenment and sophistication acquired through education and exposure to the arts, music, literature, and related intellectual activities. The beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people to tends becoming common. The co-operative movement has established under a one flag and its spirits globally with a universal values and principles, and shared beliefs and practices, set of attitudes of co-operatives in various countries are developing with almost same pattern. Hence, the co-operative culture becoming a universal organization culture. Aggregate sum of a society's knowledge and the behaviors are the fundamental concern to the Anthropology. In the Anthropological perspective culture and technology used are the functions of each other. According to the Anthropological definition of technology as - 'the sum of a society’s or culture’s practical knowledge, especially with reference to its material culture'. Therefore technology and culture are the keen concern of co-operatives. In the capacity of social development theory, the evolution and pattern of culture are the main matter to be realization. Cultural development, cultural change and cultural pattern are the function of technology.

This week has been an utter farce for international football coverage, with German stations showing both matches live and free-to-air, while English fans at home were being asked to pay an Irish broadcaster or go without. What are the FA playing at? Why is there no “national coverage” clause in their sale?

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Real history of cooperative movement in Nepal is not exceed than 15 years. This is why the movement is observed a very primitive stage. Plenties of mischief and violences of values of cooperatives in present. To scale up the movement is one of the major task and giving a way out is another part.