Northeast Ohio is playing a pivotal role in the development of a statewide Sci/Tech information resource that could have a major impact on research and development in our area. Earlier this year, OhioNet formed the Ohio Industrial Resource Cooperative (OIRC), an organization that wants to leverage the collective power of industrial, scientific and technological libraries across the state.
But the idea was born right here in Northeast Ohio.
“I used to teach at Miami University of Ohio,” says Jim Clarke, knowledge management specialist at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. “While I was there, we had a vast amount of research materials available to us through OhioLINK, which is a library and information resource that was made available to colleges through the state.”
Just in case you are unfamiliar with it, OhioLINK is a consortium of Ohio’s college and university libraries as well as the State Library of Ohio. It serves more than 800,000 students, faculty and staff at 88 institutions with 117 libraries, with a membership that includes 16 public universities, 23 community and technical colleges, 48 private colleges and the State Library of Ohio.
“Membership in OhioLINK allowed smaller colleges in Northeast Ohio, like Hiram College or the University of Mount Union, to have access to the same Sci/Tech literature that is available to larger academic institutions like Kent State,” Clarke says.
So, when Clarke joined Goodyear and became an associate 10 years ago, he noticed very quickly that its scientists and engineers depended on a large amount of Sci/Tech literature, but it was often cost prohibitive. Sci/Tech subscriptions often are seen as overhead and are expensive.
“Meaning they are easier to cut in difficult financial times,” says Clarke. “We had to constantly spend just promoting the value of these tools. Maintaining subscriptions can be difficult and expensive. Right around that same time, I also noticed that my colleagues in other companies in Northeast Ohio were facing similar challenges.”
The first idea Clarke entertained was to see if a company like Goodyear could join OhioLINK.
“The answer, of course, was no,” says Clarke. “There were licensing issues.”
But there were other issues as well. OhioLINK is a part of the education department of Ohio and is run through The Ohio State University. It is also academically oriented, and very nonprofit. So there wasn’t a good fit.
“My next thought was to create a new consortium, something that could help companies in Northeast Ohio to succeed at getting access to this kind of research and information at a cost that was palatable,” says Clarke. “I started reaching out to other consortiums. Westerville’s OhioNet had been around for decades, but I was not aware of them.”
Clarke contacted OhioNet about a pilot project.
“When Jim came to me with the idea that corporations could also benefit from working collectively to get the best pricing on their research needs, it was something of a ‘light bulb’ moment,” says Hannah Rosen, MLIS, director of member programs for OhioNet, who now heads up the OIRC. “Many people think that ‘for-profit’ companies have all the money in the world and they can just buy all the research that they want — but that is not true.
“Corporations’ research divisions are vital for innovation. They require access to the latest research, technology or pathology when it comes to biological or medical research,” she adds. “But many of these research divisions are under-funded, because profit margins are slimmer than we think. Research divisions often have limited budgets, but they don’t have anyone to advocate for them.”
Clarke then reached out to the Akron Chamber of Commerce’s Polymer Cluster, which is “how we generated initial interest from other companies that are part of the cluster,” says Clarke. “They listened to our pitch and became members.”
The pilot OIRC program consisted of seven founding members, mostly comprising Fortune 500 companies located in Northeast Ohio, most of which want to remain anonymous.
In what was a first victory for the fledgling service, OhioNet, through OIRC, acquired a subscription to Elsevier ScienceDirect, the world’s largest scientific publisher, which publishes an estimated 630,000 articles per year.
“It’s an extremely important tool for scientists and engineers,” says Clarke. “And [Goodyear] was able to acquire it for much less money than we had prior to being involved with OhioNet and OIRC.”
It would seem, at least on the surface, that a company in the consortium might risk having trade and technology secrets revealed to other members. But there really isn’t any concern given the way the membership is constructed and knowledge accessed.
“Companies don’t have to share their Sci/Tech knowledge with anyone else,” says Clarke. “Bridgestone might know that Goodyear has access to Elsevier ScienceDirect, but they don’t know how we are using it. And we don’t know how they are using it. They only know that we are doing our homework to create the best products that we possibly can.”
Naturally, there are a lot of companies and economic development organizations in Northeast Ohio, (like Bounce in Akron, the Youngstown Business Incubator and JumpStart in Cleveland) that could grow their membership simply by offering access to Sci/Tech subscriptions at a reduced rate.
“We’re hoping that these organizations will provide us the opportunity to expand our membership for 2025,” says Clarke. “Of course, the more members there are in the OIRC, the more benefit it has for Goodyear, because OhioNet will have greater cooperative buying power to negotiate for subscriptions. It will also afford us the opportunity to not only maintain our collection of Sci/Tech literature at lower costs, but will also allow us to expand it — which is very important in the competitive world that we live in.”
It represents a unique opportunity for a nonprofit to help for-profit companies with the very altruistic goal of economic development.
“We are a 501(c)(3),” admits Rosen. “OhioNet is basically a membership organization for libraries. We have been working for libraries across the State of Ohio since the ’70s.”
As far as the OIRC is concerned, it is the first of consortium of its kind in the nation, a transformative development for business in our state. By leveraging collective buying power through OIRC, even smaller companies can gain access to important research materials and resources that will foster innovation and strengthen their R&D capabilities.
“From a library standpoint, there is nothing like this in the entire world,” says Clarke. “It is unique to our state, unique to our nation and unique to our planet — and it is exciting to be a part of something that is so new.
“We are eager to help smaller companies, especially startups, which have very low access to cutting-edge research,” says Rosen. “In fact, we would like to work with as many small organizations that we can. The more organizations we have, the greater our ability to help them.”
And there are no limits of how large this initiative might grow. Now that its pilot period has been completed, the OIRC is committed to continued community building and advancing group negotiations to ensure benefits for its members. Participation in the consortium is open to for-profit companies in Ohio that become OhioNet members.
The consortium also is looking to expand its relationships with trade organizations such as CincyTech, TechGrowth Ohio and the Youngstown Business Incubator as well as other organizations and establish alliances that advocate and provide resources for for-profit companies around the state. A longer term goal could be supporting the major Tech Hubs in our state.
“I could see this eventually expanding to innovation districts across Ohio, including in Northeast Ohio, Columbus and Cincinnati,” says Clarke.
This summer, OhioNet named Katy B. Mathuews, MLIS, Ph.D. as its new executive director and CEO. With a career spanning 20 years in the library sector and a background in various roles within library and higher education settings, Mathuews brings a wealth of expertise to her new role.
Prior to joining OhioNet, Mathuews served as the senior director of administration at Ohio University Libraries in Athens, where she was a member of the libraries’ executive leadership team. She has also previously held roles in library instruction, circulation, research services, collection management, subject liaison services, assessment, institutional effectiveness, budgeting, grants management and strategic planning.
In addition to her work in libraries and higher education, Mathuews has published over 25 articles and book chapters and delivered over 60 presentations on a variety of topics, including library assessment, makerspaces and strategic planning. Mathuews has also served as a member of the Academic Library Association of Ohio’s executive board and the Scioto County Public Library board of trustees in Portsmouth, Ohio.
“We are looking forward to Katy joining the OhioNet team,” says Molly Meyers LaBadie, OhioNet board chair and deputy director at Delaware County District Library, in announcing Mathuews appointment last summer. “Her passion for strategic planning and enthusiasm for engaging with the Ohio library community herald an exciting future for OhioNet and our members.”
“As a lifelong Ohio library user, I am thrilled to join the innovative staff at OhioNet in our mission to serve the Ohio library community,” says Mathuews. “I look forward to connecting with members to understand their unique needs and leveraging the talents of the OhioNet team to support our shared success.”
