This transition from an interim, shared-governance arrangement to OCLC having primary responsibility for maintenance of VIAF and offering it as an OCLC service is done in agreement with institutions participating in VIAF. The change has been made to assure that VIAF will be well-positioned to scale efficiently as a long-term, cooperative activity. The transition also assures that http://viaf.org will continue to have appropriate infrastructure to respond to rising levels of traffic as VIAF gains momentum and popularity as a resource for library authority work and linked data activities.

The institutions contributing to VIAF will continue to help shape VIAF’s direction through participation in a newly-formed VIAF Council which will provide guidance on policies, practices and operation of VIAF. At present, 22 agencies from 19 countries have contributed data to VIAF. Data is contributed on a non-exclusive basis.

Concurrent with the change in governance structure, OCLC has begun transitioning operational responsibility for VIAF from OCLC Research to OCLC’s production areas. VIAF will continue to be made available through http://viaf.org.

"The Library of Congress is pleased to be part of this international service," said Beacher Wiggins, Director for Acquisitions & Bibliographic Access, Library of Congress. "VIAF has already proven itself as a trusted source of authoritative data for the library community. We expect to see its importance to other communities grow in the coming years."

"VIAF is strongly used by German libraries and its authority records are often integrated in the cataloging workflow," according to Dr. Elisabeth Niggemann, Director General, German National Library. "The Library is most grateful that OCLC will continue to operate VIAF on the basis of a new agreement and looks forward to an even closer cooperation with OCLC and the other VIAF contributors."

"Matching national authority files for persons and corporate bodies enables their mutual consolidation at the international level," commented Bruno Racine, President, National Library of France. "VIAF allows the exposure on the Web of highly trusted data, demonstrating the value of authority work done for so many years by national libraries and bibliographic agencies. The new Agreement confirms the free re-use of VIAF data, including the commercial re-use of data according to the ODC-By license. We expect that this broader opening of access to VIAF will encourage multilingualism and the creation of new services beyond the library world, including for data mining, intellectual property rights management, etc."

"The VIAF project is an excellent example of how the OCLC cooperative can connect major research institutions worldwide in new and exciting ways," said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. "This collaborative effort will continue to benefit libraries and other institutions for many years to come."

A brief history of the organization of VIAF:

• In April 1998, the United States Library of Congress (LC), the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, or DNB) and OCLC embarked on a proof-of-concept project to test linking each other’s authority records for personal names.
• The VIAF Consortium was formed by written agreement of LC, DNB and OCLC signed on August 6, 2003, during the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference in Berlin, Germany.
• The National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France, or BnF) joined the consortium with an agreement effective October 5, 2007.
• These four organizations—LC, DNB, BnF, and OCLC—assumed the role of Principals in the consortium, having joint responsibility for VIAF with OCLC hosting VIAF and supplying the software, and the participating institutions supplying the authority and bibliographic data content. Additional organizations later joined the consortium as Contributors, providing source files and expertise to advance the state of VIAF.
• With the successful proof of concept of VIAF, discussions begin in earnest among the Principals in 2010 about a suitable long-term organizational arrangement for VIAF. After considering various options, the Principals and Contributors agreed to transition VIAF to an OCLC service. During 2011 details of the transition were discussed and agreed to.

More information about VIAF is available at http://www.oclc.org/viaf/.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in over 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org. 

Version 2.40 is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows and supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, but does not support Windows 2000. Version 2.40 uses .NET Framework 4 Extended which is supplied with the Connexion client 2.40 software. You will be required to upgrade to version 2.40 by October 1, 2012. An upgrade warning message will begin appearing when you start version 2.10, 2.20, or 2.30 beginning in early August 2012.

Connexion client is the Windows-based interface to Connexion. This announcement does not impact the Connexion browser, which is the Web-based interface to Connexion.

View information about Connexion client or download the software

View the upgrade instructions

The CIPE consortium (Consorzio Interistituzionale per Progetti Elettronici – Interistitutional Consortium for Electronic Projects) was founded in 2007 with the objective to promote national and international cooperation, research, standardisation, training and development of services for the consortium members aimed at library innovation and efficiencies of scale. Participating in CIPE are the Universities of Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Padua, Parma, Pisa, Sassari, Siena, Venice and the Polytechnic University of the Marche. Some items in these collections date back to the 15th century.

The agreement to load the records of these leading public Italian universities will make them discoverable through WorldCat.org on the Web. "We have always been aware of the many benefits that WorldCat visibility can give us, and they are in line with our strategy of international cooperation," said Laura Tallandini, CIPE President and President of the Padua University Library System. "Now, we can have our records batchloaded into WorldCat and still continue to use our current cataloguing system. So we decided it was a good time to add our records to WorldCat and share them through WorldCat.org. The Consortium is very proud to say that thanks to the agreement CIPE signed with OCLC, all other University libraries—even if they are not CIPE members—can batchload their data in WorldCat under similar terms."

Renato Tamburrini, CIPE Director, and the University of Siena Library Director Guido Badalamenti, who is also a CIPE Board member, said they strongly support the decision to add these records to WorldCat.

"Since academic research activity is going to be more and more international, we believe it is an added value to provide one resource—WorldCat—for all the information, besides the union catalogue in Italy," said Mr. Badalamenti. "After this batchload, Italian end-users will finally be able to find our library items, in addition to items from other libraries around the world, in one search, regardless of their infrastructure and location."

"We find the WorldCat utilities very useful," said Mr. Tamburrini. "We feel good about OCLC’s commitment to connecting libraries and people, and its ideology of sharing resources, which is the essence of CIPE."

"The addition of these records will almost quadruple the current Italian-language content and will enrich WorldCat with rare and precious materials from institutions that have been building collections for centuries," said Eric van Lubeek, Managing Director of OCLC Europe, Middle East and Africa. "Researchers and students around the world will benefit from access to these collections."

The records of the CIPE universities are in UNIMARC format and will first be converted by OCLC before batchloading is done for each university. Once the records are added to WorldCat, the consortium can take advantage of other OCLC services made available through WorldCat.

The agreement between CIPE and OCLC was facilitated by Ifnet Srl, OCLC’s distributor in Italy. "This is the most important agreement since the beginning of our collaboration in 1992," said Gabriele Lunati, Ifnet Managing Director.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a non-profit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalogue, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world's largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

Prior to this agreement, collections from the Dutch National Library, university and college libraries, some special libraries and the 14 largest public libraries were present in the GGC. Many public library collections could not easily be found online. Bibliotheek.nl plans to load records from all public libraries and make them discoverable through WorldCat.org, along with the new Dutch National Library Catalogue (NBC).

Through WorldCat.org, information seekers can find materials freely on the Web from over 10,000 WorldCat libraries worldwide. OCLC has existing agreements with sites like Google and Yahoo!, making it possible for library materials in WorldCat.org to be discovered by people who use these search engines to start their searches. WorldCat.org also offers its users a variety of social networking features.

The Dutch National Library Catalogue is a freely accessible, national public catalogue that will include the complete holdings of public libraries and the National Library of the Netherlands. Through NBC, end users who are library members can request titles that their library does not have through resource sharing services from OCLC.

Eric van Lubeek, OCLC EMEA managing director, is very enthusiastic about this agreement: “This is a milestone in the development of the Dutch information infrastructure, which makes the collections of all Dutch public libraries easier to find—and not just in the Netherlands, but anywhere in the world through WorldCat.org. This way, a complete view of Dutch library collections is created.”

This agreement includes participation of all Dutch public libraries in the GGC. OCLC discovery and resource sharing services are included in the agreement. Before the end of the year, all public libraries will be in the NBC. Bibliotheek.nl and OCLC are working together to load the bibliographic and holdings data of the libraries in the GGC.

The VOB (Dutch association of public libraries) and SIOB (Dutch coordinating institute for public libraries) were closely involved in the service agreement between Bibliotheek.nl and OCLC, which is a supplement to an existing agreement between OCLC and the GII Consortium (shared information infrastructure consortium). In the GII Consortium, scientific libraries, public libraries, and the national library work together to create one digital information infrastructure for all Dutch libraries.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in over 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

Abridged Edition 15, the latest print edition of the DDC, includes new features such as:

• Many new topics and significant updates to selected fields
• A complete overhaul to the representation of groups of people
• Elimination of dual headings and unbalanced spans
• Cessation of partial abridgement of parallel notation

View a recorded webinar: DDC Abridged 15 Sneak Preview

A discussion paper, Incorporating RDA practices into WorldCat, laying out potential policies and actions is now available for comment. Please send your comments on these proposed policies and actions, as well as your thoughts on any other possible policies in regard to bibliographic records and RDA, to rdapolicy@oclc.org by April 15, 2012.

In the research that led to the publication of Online Catalogs: What End Users and Librarians Want library staff who use WorldCat ranked the need for increased accuracy in name and subject headings as a highly desired improvement. The report on WorldCat quality issued in September 2011 identified a project to control more headings in WorldCat as a priority during OCLC’s fiscal year 2012. The following describes this new controlling effort which will provide benefit to all users of WorldCat, regardless of which interface they use.

Current controlling functionality in Connexion. The controlling functionality currently available in the Connexion applications enables users to link authority records to headings in master WorldCat bibliographic records. Cataloger-initiated controlling functions facilitate automatic updating of headings in bibliographic records.

• Connexion users initiate matching headings in bibliographic records to established authority records.
• The system normalizes the headings in bibliographic records, matches them with authority records, and inserts the linked heading in the bibliographic record.

New stand-alone controlling software. OCLC is extending the Control All functionality by developing a stand-alone batch service that runs independently. The software evaluates all bibliographic records in WorldCat and controls headings as detailed below.

Records evaluated for processing. The software will evaluate the following bibliographic records in WorldCat for processing according to different time schedules:

• Master bibliographic records newly added to WorldCat contributed either through online applications or through batchload will be evaluated daily.
• Master bibliographic records changed and replaced in WorldCat will be evaluated on a pre-determined schedule.
• Existing master bibliographic records in WorldCat will be evaluated on a to-be-determined schedule and as capacity allows.

OCLC has begun processing records selected from among new and replaced records and will gradually increase the number of records processed each day over the next few weeks. We will announce when we begin processing existing records and will report periodically on progress.

Criteria for record selection. The software will select candidate bibliographic records for processing that contain the following:

• An 040 field with no ‡b present and at least one of the following controllable fields:

• 100, 110, 111, 130
• 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
• 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft
• 700, 710, 711, 730
• 800, 810, 811, 830

• An 040 field with ‡b present containing the value eng and at least one of the following controllable fields:

• 100, 110, 111, 130
• 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
• 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft
• 700, 710, 711, 730
• 800, 810, 811, 830

• An 040 field with ‡b present but containing a value not equal to eng and at least one of the following controllable fields:

• 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
• 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft

• A partially or fully controlled heading.

How the software works.
The software will not:

• Attempt to control unqualified personal names (personal name only that does not include ‡b, ‡c, ‡d, and/or ‡q).
• Control a heading to an undifferentiated authority record.
• Cause automated tag flips of any type.

The software will:

• Automatically expand dates for candidate personal name headings.
• Partially control series fields and automatically append ‡v.
• Maintain the links between non-Latin script headings and their Latin-script equivalents.

The software will also make the following adjustments as needed:

• Apply any appropriate punctuation changes.
• Attempt to control partially controlled headings.
• Uncontrol descriptive heading fields (1XX, 7XX and 8XX) if the value in field 040 in the bibliographic record is other than eng.
• Delete a geographic subdivision from a subject heading if the heading can be completely controlled and no element of the heading can be subdivided geographically.

The symbol “OCLCO” will be appended in ‡d of the 040 field in bibliographic records that are modified by the software.
If a bibliographic record is locked, the software will skip it and reevaluate it when the lock has been removed.
The new software supplements individual cataloging activity. As with the “Control All” headings function in Connexion, some circumstances prevent the software from controlling all headings in WorldCat records. The software cannot do the manual “Single Control” headings functions that catalogers can do in Connexion. The software cannot control non-qualified personal names, headings that have no exact match or that match only partially, headings that are mis-tagged, headings that contain typographical errors or other errors that require correction.

OCLC encourages catalogers working in WorldCat to continue using the control headings functions in Connexion when adding or upgrading records as you continue to share your cataloging expertise with the cooperative.

On August 26, 1971, the OCLC Online Union Catalog and Shared Cataloging system (now known as WorldCat) began operation. That first day, from a single terminal, catalogers at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, cataloged 133 books online. Today, WorldCat comprises more than 240 million records representing more than 1.7 billion items in OCLC member libraries worldwide.

"We congratulate the thousands of librarians and catalogers around the world who have helped to build WorldCat over the past 40 years keystroke by keystroke, record by record," said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. "We who work at OCLC are proud to have been a part of this remarkable story, and I want to thank our member institutions and employees for the years of dedicated effort that helped build this unique resource. Fred Kilgour’s vision—improving access to information through library cooperation—is every bit as vital today as it was in 1971. This anniversary is an important milestone in a shared journey that, I believe, will continue for many decades to come."

WorldCat is a database of bibliographic information built continuously by OCLC libraries around the world. Each record in the WorldCat database contains a bibliographic description of a single item or work and a list of institutions that hold the item. The institutions share these records, using them to create local catalogs, arrange interlibrary loans and conduct reference work. Libraries contribute records for items not found in WorldCat using OCLC shared cataloging systems.

"In retrospect, I have to say that in those early days, I don’t think we really understood the enormity of the system that we were embarking upon, much less did we consider what the future possibilities might be," said Lynne Lysiak, who had just started her career at Ohio University Libraries when WorldCat first went online, and is now retired. "As OCLC forges ahead now with WorldCat Local and cloud-computing developments, they are embarking on a new era and suite of services for libraries and their users. It’s an exciting time."

"OCLC cataloging and resource sharing services and our library management systems continue to help libraries improve their productivity, save money and improve access to their collections," said Mr. Jordan. "Against a backdrop of continuous technological change, WorldCat and the OCLC cooperative have continued to grow."

Since 1971, 240 million records have been added to WorldCat, spanning more than 5,000 years of recorded knowledge, from about 3400 B.C. to the present. This unique collection of information encompasses records in a variety of formats—books, e-books, DVDs, digital resources, serials, sound recordings, musical scores, maps, visual materials, mixed materials and computer files. Like the knowledge it describes, WorldCat grows steadily. Every second, library members add seven records to WorldCat.

Once records have been added to WorldCat, they are discoverable on the Web through popular search and partner sites, and through WorldCat.org.

Records entered into WorldCat since 1971 have been continuously migrated, reformatted and updated to conform to newly issued cataloging standards. They have been touched and enhanced hundreds of times by librarians around the world and by OCLC staff and automated systems.

The first OCLC cathode ray tube terminal was the Irascope Model LTE, which was manufactured by Spiras Systems. OCLC deployed 68 LTES, one of which is now on display in a new OCLC Museum dedicated today in Dublin, Ohio. The LTE was connected to OCLC via a dedicated, leased telephone line from AT&T; message traffic moved at the rate of 2400 baud (2,400 symbols per second).

People can now use their mobile phones to access WorldCat via WorldCat Local, where 4G wireless downloads are 2,500 times faster than the original OCLC network. Wired networks are now 416,000 times faster.

Find more about WorldCat on the OCLC website, and watch WorldCat grow as libraries around the world contribute to the database.

The new functionality includes enhancements to the 856 field and the ability to have fields or portions or fields deleted from records.

With the new editing options for the 856 field, you can choose to:

• Retain only an 856 field with vendor-supplied data or with a preferred domain name,
• Add a prefix, and indicate preferred domain name,
• Add linked text, public notes, and materials specified notes
  to the 856 field.

The new delete field functionality allows you to have complete fields, portions of fields, or fields with specific indicators deleted from records.

For more information, please contact Julie Whitley (800.848.5878, ext. 6159) or Sandi Jones (800.848.5878, ext. 6082).

WebDewey 2.0 features:

• An easy-to-navigate, simple user interface that is suitable for the novice as well as the power user
• BISAC-to-DDC mappings
• An easy-to-personalize screen display, often done with a single click
• Continuous updating

DDC 23 is the default database and you still have access to DDC 22 from the dropdown menu. You can easily see which database you are in, DDC 22 has green buttons and DDC 23 has orange buttons

DDC 23 also features:

• New provisions in 004-006 Computer science and elsewhere to reflect changes in technology
• Updates to provisions for the Orthodox Church and Islam in 200 Religion
• Improved provisions in 340 Law for legal systems based on civil law
• Significant updates to 370 Education resulting in an improved international framework for levels of education, kinds of schools, policy issues and specific subjects in primary education
• Updated provisions for food and clothing
• Updates to 740 Graphic arts and decorative arts
• A new location and expanded development for cinematography and videography at 777
• Significant expansions throughout 796 Athletic and outdoor sports and games
• Significant expansions in Table 2, with parallel provisions in 930-990, for the ancient world, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam and Canada
• Updated historical periods throughout 930-990

Dedicated to Dewey users worldwide, DDC 23 features:

• Many new topics and significant updates to selected fields
• Numbers informed by interaction with the worldwide community of Dewey users
• A complete overhaul to the representation of groups of people
• Revisions to several standard subdivisions
• Elimination of dual headings and unbalanced spans
• A minimal price increase

Current WebDewey subscribers can access the new system with their existing authorizations and passwords at WebDewey. The existing WebDewey interface will be available until mid 2011, at which time users will be redirected to the new service. Abridged 15 and Abridged WebDewey 2.0 will be available later in 2011.

Log on to WebDewey 2.0

Embrapa's collection, which focuses on topics such as tropical agriculture, food safety, family agriculture, natural resources, advanced technology and agribusiness, comprises approximately 315,000 titles in Portuguese; 125,000 in English; and 22,000 titles in Spanish. Nearly 18,000 records will link to full-text documents, most of which come from Embrapa's digital repository, the Informática Agropecuária (Ainfo). There are now more than 2 million Portuguese records in WorldCat.

"Because Brazil is a global player on tropical agriculture research, it is very important to share this information with other countries," said Dr. Pedro Arraes, Director-President of Embrapa.

"Embrapa's mission of sharing knowledge is closely aligned with OCLC's mission to further access to the world's information," said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. "Embrapa's important collections in agricultural information and science will now be shared globally."

"We are honored to have Embrapa's records added to WorldCat," said Daniel Boivin, Executive Director, OCLC Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. "Scholars and researchers around the world will have increased access to these valuable resources, either through linking to full text or through enhanced resource sharing capabilities."

This is OCLC's first collaboration with Embrapa and comes as part of an ongoing effort to include more resources from Brazil in WorldCat. Prior to initiating this project with Embrapa in 2007, OCLC added more than 34,000 records to WorldCat from IBICT’s Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD) Metadata Base. OCLC has also worked in a similar capacity in recent years with Bireme, which added more than 40,000 records from SciELO Brasil, and over 300,000 records from the Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences Database (LILACS).

About Embrapa
Founded in 1973, The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation’s mission is to provide feasible solutions for the sustainable development of Brazil’s agribusiness, by sharing knowledge and generating new technologies. Embrapa is headquartered in Brasilia-DF, Brazil and has 42 Research Centers distributed in different states of Brazil and offices in the U.S., France, The Netherlands, Great Britain, South Korea and Ghana.
Embrapa, through its association with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, has developed and recommended more than 9,000 technologies for Brazilian agriculture that aid in reducing production costs. Embrapa has also assisted Brazil in increasing its food supplies, while conserving natural resources, the environment, and reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign technologies, products and materials.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources. Search WorldCat on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

In October 2010, OCLC’s U.S.-based Member Services team kicked off a new event series, Good Practices for Great Outcomes: Cataloging Efficiencies that Make a Difference. These in-person meetings are designed to highlight practical approaches and ideas that increase efficiency. Each features several member librarians, who discuss workflow changes and tools like WorldCat Cataloging Partners. These member librarians also share how their approach to getting work done has changed. To date, numerous member panelists and keynote speakers have provided a significant array of ideas, tips and advice.

We have just launched a new online portal for Good Practices for Great Outcomes that showcases video and slide presentations from previous events and provides announcements about future events. In addition to these resources, we also highlight our new blog and live Twitter feed, featuring ideas and recommendations contributed by members of the cooperative.

These face-to-face meetings generate many valuable ideas and discussions, and we are excited to expand access to these resources by way of our new virtual community. We invite you to view videos from past events, such as:

• “Putting the Puzzle Together: Technical Services Workflow Redesign,” by Helen Heinrich, Cataloging Coordinator, California State University, Northridge
• “Style 23, Rule 6, & Other Notes on Change Management,” by Karen Schneider, Director of the Cushing Library, Holy Names University

We also invite you to follow us on Twitter at @OCLCMemServ and join in the #goodgreatcat conversation. We hope that you take full advantage of all of these community resources—and don't forget to pass them on to your colleagues.

These meetings have taken place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the University of Washington/Seattle along with Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon (via simulcast), D.C. Public Library and Florida Southern College. The Member Services team has also presented these events at several venues in California, including the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose, and during the ALA Midwinter Conference in San Diego. The meetings are free for OCLC members to attend, thanks to the generosity of our library co-hosts.

We hope to meet you online—or in-person—at one of our upcoming events in the near future!

—Chris Martire
Director, OCLC Member Services