OCLC'S WebJunction Teams with Plateau to Create Online Learning Community for Librarians
Non-Profit Strives to Keep Libraries Around the World Connected Through Social Learning
Arlington, Va. - 18 November, 2008 – Plateau Systems, a leading provider of talent management software, services and solutions, today announced that WebJunction, an online learning community for librarians and affiliated staff, has deployed Plateau's Learning Management System (LMS) as the backbone for its online learning service. WebJunction, a division of OCLC, delivers critical online learning content and services to partner organizations around the world. WebJunction’s partners range from state libraries developing custom collaboration portals, to library systems employing web conferencing and learning management services, as well as library organizations accessing WebJunction’s deep online course catalog for staff training.
Launched in 2003 by OCLC, a nonprofit library service and research organization, in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and key partners across the library community, WebJunction set out to build a community where library staff and affiliated organizations can meet to share ideas, solve problems and take courses. The WebJunction community has since grown rapidly to include more than 32,000 registered members, 90,000 unique monthly visitors, 30,000 courses taken, and partnerships with a growing number of library organizations.
Faced with a rapidly growing audience and expanding range of content, WebJunction recognized that it needed to make it easier for users to navigate its course catalog and improve scalability of the site to accommodate increased traffic and new audiences. In addition, WebJunction saw value in creating a centralized, interactive online community for members and users that would bring together the fragmented library field and allow them to engage in discussions, participate in groups, share content, and partake in collaborative learning with colleagues and peers.
“We looked at the best features of social community sites and sought to combine them with a powerful knowledge platform,” said Kathryn Perkins, Director of Partner Services at WebJunction. "That was really the impetus for the transformation of WebJunction from a basic content portal into a revolutionary platform that integrates social tools and virtual meeting spaces with content, learning, and customer management capabilities."
The initiative required systems that would interact well together to provide a robust community experience, including features that would allow for group spaces and a way for individuals to add content to the site. The systems also had to integrate with OCLC’s ecommerce solution for payment processing, as well as WebJunction’s own social functionality and content management tools built using Liferay, a leading open source enterprise portal solution.
"We selected the Plateau learning management system as the platform that most matched our need for robust functionality, stability and security," said Perkins. "We were looking for a vendor partner with whom we could collaborate on this new and innovative interface."
The new capabilities are built on the deep repository of content, courses, and discussions that have long defined WebJunction. Today the catalog is organized by core competencies and deployed through an integrated user interface that leverages OCLC systems, Liferay, and Plateau.
"Being selected to develop and support the core infrastructure for WebJunction's innovative and ambitious initiative validates the strength of Plateau's solution and depth of our expertise," said Paul Sparta, Plateau chairman and CEO. "Plateau’s enterprise-class platform delivers the flexibility and reusability WebJunction needed in order to keep pace with the broad learning needs of their growing audience. We view WebJunction as a long-term partner and are proud to have worked with them to deliver a flexible solution that allows them to utilize their existing assets while scaling to accommodate their long-term vision and expansion."
To attend a complimentary webinar on January 27, 2009 and learn more about how OCLC/WebJunction is integrating social tools, content management, learning management, customer management and virtual meeting spaces to engage members of the library community and encourage collaboration and participation in learning, please register at OCLC/WebJunction webinar.
For more information on Plateau, visit www.plateau.com.
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About WebJunction
WebJunction is the online community where library staff connect, create, and learn. WebJunction provides information, insights, and online learning relevant to library staff, their organizations, and the library field as a whole as part of our mission to foster collaboration and partnership within the library community.
WebJunction is supported in part by OCLC, grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services, partners in state library agencies and other library systems and organizations, and by the library community. Launched in 2003, WebJunction is based in Seattle, Washington and Dublin, Ohio. More information is available at www.webjunction.org.
About Plateau
Plateau is a leading provider of talent management software, content and services designed to increase workforce productivity and drive business success. Plateau’s award-winning software is powering talent management initiatives across some of the world’s most successful organizations, including the American Red Cross, General Electric, the Internal Revenue Service, Capital One Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Industry analysts at Bersin & Associates, Forrester Research and other leading information and technology research and advisory firms continue to recognize Plateau’s leadership in delivering best-in-class functionality, technology and customer satisfaction. Plateau is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has offices across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.plateau.com.
Media Contact:
Wendy Werve
Plateau Systems
703-678-0381
wendy.werve@plateau.com