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WorldCat Local : Overview

Overview

Download the WorldCat Local Content Overview

FIND materials quickly and easily

Give your users access to a single search experience that eliminates the need to consult many separate resources and interfaces. One search provides instant access to your library's materials – digital objects, electronic materials, databases, eJournals, music, videos, audio, eBooks, maps, journals, theses and books – in addition to materials in group and consortial catalogs and thousands of OCLC member libraries worldwide.

WorldCat Local is the best way to get more than 922 million important and unique works in the world's libraries in front of your users. More than forty national catalogs contribute to WorldCat, bringing the riches of international scholarship to your community. And because the cooperative partners with organizations like Google Books, the HathiTrust, JSTOR and OAIster, every WorldCat Local search reveals deep and useful results from an extraordinary range of collections.

CONNECT users to the materials they need

With WorldCat Local, simplicity doesn't stop with the search. Your users are presented with only the most appropriate options to quickly connect them with what they need. And because WorldCat Local integrates with your current services and live circulation data, users know immediately whether (and where) an item is available. One click lets users view an electronic copy or place a hold or resource sharing request. They can identify the branch or department location of the items they want, eliminating the need to consult multiple areas on your Web site for electronic resources, group and consortial catalogs and interlibrary loan options.

Your staff will enjoy benefits related to centralized access, too. Less time is required to maintain data in multiple locations and systems, and no separate data loads are required for libraries that contribute and maintain their holdings in WorldCat. Daily synchronization of the WorldCat knowledge base with WorldCat keeps your electronic resource holdings up-to-date and reduces staff time required for manual updates.

OpenURL resolution and and A to Z journal list built on the WorldCat knowledge base let users quickly link to the articles they need.

EXPLORE 922+ million items and growing.

OCLC members work together in a unique, worldwide cooperative that allows every library to contribute to and benefit from the combined purchasing and licensing power of the membership. As an OCLC member, you get access to major publishing and content partners from around the world. Your WorldCat Local service connects your users to:

  • Content cataloged by thousands of librarians worldwide over the course of decades.
  • The rich resources of dozens of national libraries.
  • Major aggregators of eBooks, including NetLibrary, ebrary, Overdrive and MyiLibrary;
  • Large mass digitization collections, including Google Books and HathiTrust;
  • Content from publishers such as Springer, Wiley, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Oxford University Press and more.

With access to more than 922 million items in a wide variety of formats, your users will find more routes to the information they need.