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WorldCat : 25 reasons to choose WorldCat
25 Reasons to Choose WorldCatThere are as many reasons to be a part of WorldCat as there are members that participate in the OCLC cooperative. The following list represents the 25 reasons libraries have told us best summarize the value of being part of WorldCat and continuing to invest in its growth. Go global—in geography, scope and content
Your library is a cooperative enterprise. With WorldCat, you can join thousands of information professionals to participate in efficient, cost-saving systems of sharing. The depth and scope of WorldCat make it a unique, cooperative asset of the member libraries that participate in its creation, improvement and dissemination. Working together, OCLC members have built WorldCat into a source of data used by thousands of librarians and millions of information seekers. This resource provides the core of many library services and is a tool for important research and reference. More than 35 national libraries trust WorldCat with their data and to facilitate shared cataloging, record exchange, digitization, resource sharing and document delivery. Learn more about the National Library participation in the OCLC global cooperative Services like Batchload, eSerials Holdings, contract cataloging, digitization and link management help make WorldCat a place where your users can connect with the unique value your library provides. Make library data more relevant with research tools and enhancements
Researchers around the world depend on the quality of the WorldCat database and rely on the work of member libraries to improve and enhance records. OCLC also ensures quality by fostering and adopting international standards, conducting automated reviews, and participating in quality programs with other institutions. We often need to locate the best information among millions of items. Through constant development efforts, OCLC continuously adds new functionality to WorldCat that helps you help your users find exactly what they need. OCLC Research works with members and the community to collaboratively identify problems and opportunities, prototype and test solutions, publish reports and share findings through presentations and professional interactions. Information seekers on the Web expect to connect to a wide variety of data, services and related content whenever they search. With WorldCat, you can provide helpful, appropriate points of interest along the way. The WorldCat Registry is a Web-based directory and authoritative single source for information that defines your institution’s identity, services, relationships, contacts and other key data. With it, you can centralize information for sharing and get greater Internet visibility. Connect libraries, users and partners
OCLC Web-scale Management Services will move crucial library services and associated data to the network—sometimes called “the cloud”—freeing library systems and staff from time-consuming maintenance and repetitive tasks. You will better connect the content, technology and expertise of your library to other member libraries worldwide. OCLC member libraries share resources among ourselves and with all of our constituents. Every time you contribute to the cooperative, you help other libraries do their job more effectively. Together, we better fulfill the mission of libraries and help each other serve the needs of our users. Almost every function in your library touches the catalog at some point. WorldCat helps integrate those functions into efficient services that “talk” to each other. WorldCat also draws other partners—publishers, booksellers, software vendors, search engines—into the library workflow, adding efficiencies and enhancing the value of your cataloging efforts. The WorldCat platform helps you connect to all kinds of information sources. In addition to linking to items in more than 30 formats, WorldCat supports “Ask a Librarian” features and links to various registries and third-party content providers. WorldCat Local provides tools for you to shine a light on unique local materials that help meet very specific needs—while also giving your users a truly worldwide view of library resources. It is the single search that connects people to all your library’s materials—physical, electronic and digital—as well as to the delivery services that get them what they need. Streamline processes when libraries work together
Few records in WorldCat are actually the work of one, single cataloger. Rather, each record is the result of shared work, improved over time and by many. With WorldCat, you join other librarians to help improve a worldwide record of humanity’s knowledge. How can the cooperative help you move toward a brighter future? Services such as WorldCat Local and Web-scale Management Services better connect library management functions, providing ways to increase efficiency and cooperative intelligence. The size and scope of WorldCat makes it a valuable resource for your group activities, leveraging the work of each participant in order to provide benefit to all involved. We can work with your library group or consortium to define a specific set of programs and services that works best for you. You can utilize the data in WorldCat to perform collection analysis, selection and other collection management activities at the network level. OCLC will work with you to help your diverse activities function more efficiently together. WorldCat services, software and hardware are all cooperative. That way, the work of each member institution benefits all participants. WorldCat is also a hub for connectivity to industry partners, publishers, users and developers. Engage users on the Web
WorldCat.org makes your collections discoverable anywhere on the Web. More people outside the traditional library environment can find your library—and the reliable information and assistance you provide—through Web sites they use every day. Information about your holdings and library services is actively spread across the Web via strategic partnerships with partners such as Google and Yahoo!, as well as through social and distributed Web technologies that appeal to users, other information providers and e-businesses. A growing library of WorldCat Web applications lets your users see complementary sources of information, look up physical items in WorldCat member libraries, and link to electronic resources such as full-text articles. You can embed the simple WorldCat search box into any blog or Web page, making it easy for your users to begin their search when most convenient. Advanced WorldCat.org search options allow “power users” to create complex queries and limit results by language, format and date of publication. Using WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local, users can create a profile and build personalized lists of books, videos and other library-owned items. Ratings, reviews and tags provide a way to interact more directly with library content, and plug-ins provide always-there access to WorldCat from a browser toolbar or personal Web site. |
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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 information costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories around the world have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. |
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