Improving Library Catalogs

The University of New Brunswick in Fredericton and Saint John, Canada, used the WorldCat knowledge base API to create customized A-Z lists for their users. They built their own A-Z lists because it gives them freedom and flexibility to include and interact with data and in ways, (i.e. no left-anchored default search) that are both included and not included in the various OCLC-designed interfaces. "It's a big plus for us," remarked one of UNB's Web Programmer Analysts.

Their implementation is still in development, as they're still working on collection title lists. But things are progressing very well.

This application uses the WorldCat Search API in order to provide users with citations in various formats. Users click on the "Cite" link on a given record and a pop-up window with citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles are displayed.

This application uses APIs from Worldcat, Google Books, and Yahoo spell check, as well as various scripts to check the availability in the local catalog in order to provide a discovery interface that facilitates access to materials within the IDS Project's 50 New York libraries and WorldCat libraries worldwide.

Web services module in Koha that supports xISBN and other similar services, and exposes the content in a new ‘Editions’ tab on the OPAC detail page for every record. For more information see this post on the LibLime Developer's Blog.

This application adds a section in the North Caroline State University Libraries catalog which shows the number of items in libraries worldwide which match the criteria submitted by the searcher and links the searcher to see these results within NCSU's WorldCat Local.

When someone outside The University of Auckland tries the “Find Full Text” button from their DSsace repository item, they will be redirected to their own OpenURL servers as they are listed in the WorldCat Registry. If a subscription exists, s/he will be able to use her own authentication to be connected to full-text content. A configuration setting allows the system administrator to choose the appropriate fields to cross walk to the OpenURL elements. When a DOI is available this is used first, if not then other metadata elements are used to construct the OpenURL search string. This implementation solves the "appropriate copy" issue and provides for multiple choices if available.

 

One of the top users of the service, Heidelberg University employs xISBN to map book relations in HEIDI, the online public access catalog for all four library locations. In the user interface, this functionality is expressed through the “Search for Similar Titles” link.

Submitted virtually as a part of the WorldCat Mashathon 2009 in Seattle, this mashup helps researchers identify peer-reviewed journals. For every ISSN the script finds using the JQuery library, it checks the OCLC xISSN service to see if the item is peer-reviewed. If it is, then it adds a “Peer Reviewed” indicator.

The Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) consortia in North Carolina provides their users with ―Related author searches when a user searches by author. It then provides a link to the WorldCat Identities record for the author through the ―info‖ link to show additional works and biographical information available through WorldCat data mining.

VuFind is an open source next-generation resource discovery tool which enables users to search and browse through all of a library's resources by replacing the traditional OPAC to include: Catalog Records, Locally Cached Journals, Digital Library Items, Institutional Repository, Institutional Bibliography and Other Library Collections and Resources.

The software uses the xISBN service in order to provide links to other editions of a particular book.