OCLC and Google to exchange data, link digitised books to WorldCat
OCLC and Google Inc. have signed an agreement to exchange data that will facilitate the discovery of library collections through Google search services.
Under terms of the agreement, OCLC member libraries participating in the Google Book Search™ program, which makes the full text of more than one million books searchable, may share their WorldCat-derived MARC records with Google to better facilitate discovery of library collections through Google.
Google will link from Google Book Search to WorldCat.org, which will drive traffic to library OPACs and other library services. Google will share data and links to digitised books with OCLC, which will make it possible for OCLC to represent the digitised collections of OCLC member libraries in WorldCat.
"OCLC's efforts to bring together information on digitized content will be significant for users, making it possible to find in one place what has been digitised, where that content is, and the relationship of one version to others," said John Wilkin, Associate University Librarian for Library Information Technology and Technical and Access Services, University of Michigan. "We're excited by this major step forward."
The new agreement between OCLC and Google is the latest in several partnerships between the two designed to increase the visibility of libraries on the Web and deliver information to users at the point of need. OCLC will be working with other organisations to include digitised content in WorldCat in the months to come.