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WorldCat.org : Overview

Overview

"The statistics...leave little doubt that OCLC's move to the free Web is a step in the right direction...The smart money is on [search engines] and libraries determining how to co-exist while...making each other better."

—Searcher Magazine, Nov.-Dec. 2006

The Internet is the first choice for most information seekers. With your holdings and other metadata contributed to WorldCat, WorldCat.org makes your library's resources more visible to more people on the Web. Your reliable, verified information and personal assistance—the hallmarks of the library experience—gain greater exposure, credibility and use among people in your community and around the world. And you better meet the needs of Internet-savvy users who are no longer concerned with where information "lives" or who owns it, only that they can get to it quickly.

Opened to the Web, your data works harder to attract users

WorldCat.org is the centerpiece of a platform for "Web-scale" discovery of library materials that moves information seekers from far-flung Internet locales into its simple search interface and through to local collections and services. Your WorldCat holdings data is made open and accessible to the sites people really use, and to Web technologies that let them interact with and contribute to it.

Integration with key Web search sites

In partnership with OCLC, Google, Yahoo! and many other sites index WorldCat records for millions of popular items as well as unique items held by individual institutions. Among their search results for regular Web content, a Web user finds links to WorldCat.org information about library materials, based on key words in their originating search.

See WorldCat partner links in action

What do WorldCat results look like on Yahoo! or Google? Enter a search term below.

Google Yahoo Search
 
 

A destination site that can be added to users' array of Web workspaces

Links on partner sites lead to a WorldCat.org item record page, where many users first encounter the tools that let them judge a resource's merits, find local or regional libraries that own it, and begin to incorporate "libraries" into their Web-searching thought processes.

Just enough information to make a decision

The Worldcat.org item record doesn't overwhelm—it lets the Web user view basic evaluative information about the discovered item such as author(s), format, language, publisher, and cover art.

Illustration: Item record page

Item record page from WorldCat.org

Fast lookup of holding libraries

If they've found the right item, first-time users simply enter their geographic location and receive a list of WorldCat-participating libraries near them that own the item. Your library's directory-style listing shows distance from the user's input location and includes links to your "Ask a Librarian" virtual reference service as well as your general information Web page that lists locations, operating hours and phone numbers.

Illustration: Holding library listings

WorldCat.org holding-library listings feature deep links to OPAC item records, plus utility links to general information and online reference desk

Easy access to your catalog, services and content

The most prominent link within the listing—your library's name—leads the user directly to the item's record in your online catalog. Depending on your catalog's capabilities, a user may be able to view the item's availability and, after authenticating as a library member, perform any number of circulation activities, including the placement of a hold, remote checkout or direct viewing of electronic content.

Comprehensive WorldCat searching, including articles

Web users who arrive at WorldCat.org from partner search engines and initiate a new search receive results from the complete WorldCat database—not just the subset of popular materials indexed by partners. Article citations are included from four popular databases: GPO, ArticleFirst, Medline and ERIC. Users recognized as being on your library network through IP authentication also see linked fulfillment options you may offer for a particular article, such as full text, OpenURL resolver or article delivery service.

Ways to expand and explore

If a Web searcher decides they want to investigate other resources, they can follow related subject links to see more library items on the same topic, view extended "About the Author" information in the WorldCat Identities utility, or perform a new search that queries the entire WorldCat database—not just the limited subset indexed by partner sites. Results of searches done directly at WorldCat.org are easily refined using a "faceted browse" facility that lets the user narrow by a selection within facets such as author, format and year of publication.

Social and personalization tools that bring libraries into the Web workspace

WorldCat.org also offers these features designed to appeal to a new generation of information seekers, keeping them engaged and constructing a library-centered identity. Users can:

  • Maintain a public profile that can optionally list interests, occupation, personal Web sites and electronic addresses
  • Build their own personalized lists of books, videos and other library-owned items; lists can be public or private, and public lists can be searched and shared with friends
  • Add their own ratings and reviews of an item, and contribute to collaboratively edited contextual notes
  • Add library materials to their social bookmarks at sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us and Facebook with the AddThis widget available on item record pages
  • Install one of several search plug-ins for always-there access to WorldCat results from a browser toolbar or personalized Web page
Illustration: WorldCat list

Once they've created a WorldCat user account, people can build customized lists of library items that can remain private or be shared with friends and the larger WorldCat user community

Web users can put WorldCat right where they want it: WorldCat.org features search plug-ins such as this Facebook application

WorldCat user accounts require only a light registration of user name, password and e-mail address, so people can quickly establish their identity and move on to a chosen activity.

Extra features for authenticated users

If the user is internally or remotely authenticated on your network, they also see a Services zone that presents any additional fulfillment options you may offer—such as full text, resource sharing, document delivery or the full-featured WorldCat record in FirstSearch—relative to the displayed item.

See more features of the WorldCat.org interface

Open approach spreads WorldCat information around

Best of all, as an open system WorldCat makes your resources much more mobile: Data about your holdings and links to your services are distributed farther and wider on the Web, where new audiences discover them. Any person, business or organization can mix WorldCat data into their own Web sites, Web-enabled environments such as e-learning courses, or Web-application hybrids (also known as "mashups").

Simple linking structure

A URL syntax available on WorldCat.org shows how to construct links to specific item records—keyed on standard identifying numbers like ISBN and ISSN—or to search results using abbreviated query indicators and embedded key words. The syntax can be used by other Web applications to dynamically generate links to WorldCat.org item records or results.

Free search box

From WorldCat.org, anyone can obtain HTML code for a free, modular version of the WorldCat search box that lets visitors to their Web site seek library resources.

Illustration: Modular WorldCat search box

The modular version of the WorldCat search box can be placed on any Web site; a user can post it to their blog or personalized social-network page

Affiliate Web services

Free and subscription-based Web services on WorldCat.org allow WorldCat information to be easily integrated into Web applications such as search engines, databases, e-commerce sites and other information services.

A registry for institutional metadata

In the same way that information about your holdings is stored and redistributed from WorldCat's core bibliographic database, information about your institutional identity and services is managed and disseminated from the free WorldCat Registry. Your library's Registry profile controls the deep links to your OPAC and online services displayed in WorldCat.org results.

WorldCat.org Frequently Asked Questions