OCLC now offering services for groups

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 14 January 2004—OCLC now offers services that allow consortia to build group online union catalogs and provide resource sharing and reference services under one locally customized interface.

OCLC group catalogs are based on library holdings set in WorldCat.  OCLC creates a catalog from WorldCat holdings contributed by group members so that library users can find what they need close to home.  If users are unable to find what they need in their local area, they can expand their search to a larger region within the group, or to the entire WorldCat database for what they need.

“Creating a group catalog is like creating your own slice of WorldCat—a subset of the world’s most comprehensive database of bibliographic information,” said Frank Hermes, Vice President, OCLC Cooperative Discovery Services.  “Libraries can leverage the investment they have already made in cataloging with WorldCat.  And basing a group catalog on WorldCat affords scalability, allowing the catalog to be searched for items held within the group—or held anywhere in the world.”

Gathering holdings information within a group helps facilitate item discovery and resource sharing through OCLC services that many libraries in the group are currently using.  Libraries that do not use WorldCat for cataloging can batchload records into the database to make their holdings information available for a group catalog.  And libraries can customize and brand their group catalog—for example, they can add logos for both the group and for a library within the group.

The Military Education and Research Library Network (MERLN) was the first to implement the OCLC group catalog model.  The MERLN group catalog provides access to over 1.5 million items in the collections of 13 MERLN libraries through a single database for easy identification of the materials group members need from any of the participating MERLN libraries.

The MERLN group catalog provides easy access to the holdings of a variety of military libraries, based nationally and internationally, on a variety of military topics.

A group catalog for Missouri libraries became available in December 2003.  It is an extension of Missouri’s “Show-Me The World” project, a virtual library program that uses WorldCat to connect users with information in the state’s libraries—and beyond.

“Missouri libraries have a long history of cooperation and a commitment to equal access to information across the state,” said Sara Parker, Missouri State Librarian.  “The Missouri group catalog will help us to build on the progress we have already made.”

Libraries participating in OCLC group services do not have to invest in new hardware, software or staff training because the services are hosted by OCLC, and staff members in participating libraries are already quite familiar with OCLC services.  Ms. Parker said the ease of adoption and use of OCLC group services will inspire Missouri libraries to be even more innovative.

“My hope is libraries which might have been reluctant to try new service approaches will be persuaded this is a new tool to better meet the needs of their users,” said Ms. Parker.

This month, library users in Florida will be able to search the collections of all public, community college and state university libraries through the Florida group catalog, a new addition to the Florida Electronic Library.

Florida libraries have been contributing holdings to WorldCat for 30 years, so the creation of a Florida union catalog was the next logical step in making the most of their work—and their investment.

More group catalogs are being created and will be available in the coming months.

For more information on services for groups, visit http://www.oclc.org/groupservices/.

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