Bibliothèque nationale de France to add records to WorldCat
OCLC and Bibliothèque nationale de France have signed a letter of intent to work cooperatively to add records from the French national library to OCLC's WorldCat, the world's largest online resource for finding information in libraries.
Bibliothèque nationale de France and OCLC signed the document during the IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 74th IFLA General Conference and Council in Québec, Canada. Once an agreement is finalized, OCLC anticipates processing an estimated 13.2 million bibliographic records from Bibliothèque nationale de France. Once records are added to WorldCat, they will be more visible and accessible to Web users worldwide.
"OCLC and Bibliothèque nationale de France look forward to continuing a cooperative relationship that will benefit the library community worldwide for years to come," said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. "These valuable records from Bibliothèque nationale de France will further enrich WorldCat as the preeminent resource for scholarship, and will increase the visibility of the unique resources held by the national library of France."
"The Bibliothèque nationale de France is willing to increase the audience of its cultural heritage materials. We are convinced that the contribution of our entire bibliographic catalogue to WorldCat is likely to enhance the value of the library collections," said Bruno Racine, President of BnF. "The bibliographic data of the BnF catalogue, one of the richest catalogues in the world, will be of great benefit to OCLC users."