A symposium on cooperation between public libraries in Zhejiang and OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) was held in Shaoxing on December 5, 2018. The directors of public libraries in Zhejiang Province, Andrew H. Wang, Vice President of OCLC, and Qiu Dongjiang, Chief Representative of OCLC Beijing Representative Office attended the meeting, which was hosted by Chu Shuqing, Director of Zhejiang Library.

Eight municipal libraries in Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Quzhou, Zhoushan, Taizhou, and Lishui signed cooperation agreements with OCLC. All the provincial and municipal libraries in Zhejiang Province, including the three municipal libraries in Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Jiaxing that had previously cooperated with OCLC, have joined OCLC.

OCLC, one of the world's largest non-profit providers of document information service, has the largest library bibliographic database in the world. More than 20,000 libraries or institutions in 123 countries and regions around the world are users of OCLC's resources and services.

The cooperation between the public libraries in Zhejiang and OCLC means that readers in the province can access global literature and information resources through the OCLC resource platform. In addition, the excellent local documents and characteristic regional culture of Zhejiang can go global through the international platform to be accessible to global users.

Andrew H. Wang, the vice president of OCLC, gave a report on "OCLC—A Cooperative Organization Connecting Global Libraries", offering a detailed presentation of OCLC’s institutional nature, data capacity, service items, management models, search methods, and electronic resources. He also shared OCLC's experience in cooperating with public libraries in the UK, Australia, Singapore and other countries.

"The library is not only a service organization, but also an academic institution. As the global library community becomes increasingly enthusiastic about informatization and cooperation, resource sharing represents the future development of domestic libraries," said Chu Shuqing, director of Zhejiang Library. The cooperation between the public libraries in Zhejiang Province and OCLC is groundbreaking, and is of positive significance for the international cultural exchanges of Zhejiang Province and the international development of public libraries.

The signing of the cooperation agreement is not only a positive response from the public library community in Zhejiang Province to the Global Vision proposed during the 84th IFLA Conference in 2018, but also the implementation of the Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law and Public Library Law. The specific measures are also a useful attempt for public libraries in the province to participate in global data resource cooperation and sharing, create borderless services, and enhance the library's role as an information center. It will create additional paths for outstanding Chinese culture and Zhejiang native culture to go global.