WorldCat hits 200 million records!

On August 27, 2010, the Bibliothèque nationale de France entered the 200 millionth bibliographic record into the WorldCat database … just one day after the 39th anniversary of the launching of the OCLC online union catalog and shared cataloging system on August 26, 1971.

The record describes “Je reviendrai à Montréal” (“I will return to Montreal”), a sound recording by Robert Charlebois made in 1993.

It took the cooperative 31 years, from 1971 to 2002, to add the first 50 million records. The last 50 million were added in just 10 months, from November 2009 to August 2010.

“This is a significant milestone for OCLC members, service partners and OCLC staff,” said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. “For nearly four decades, thousands of catalogers and librarians around the world have worked together on WorldCat, contributing records and holdings and enhancing their quality and accuracy. Over that same period, we at OCLC have maintained the infrastructure that supports WorldCat against a backdrop of continuous technological change. Working together, libraries, service partners and OCLC have created a unique and valuable resource for knowledge seekers everywhere.”

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China National Library shares its rich collection

With more than 2.4 million records in WorldCat, the National Library of China will now make these important Chinese materials available through WorldCat Resource Sharing.

“We live in a global village and become increasingly closer due to ever-advancing information technology,” says Director-General Zhou Heping, of the National Library of China. “The National Library of China is pleased to do its part to meet the increasing interest in and need for information about China.”

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National Diet Library to add records

In order to share Japanese cultural resources with scholars and researchers worldwide, the National Diet Library of Japan and OCLC will make 5 million records from the Japanese national bibliography discoverable through WorldCat.

“The National Diet Library values its cooperation with OCLC,” said Makoto Nagao, Librarian of the NDL. “Through WorldCat, our records from the Japanese National Bibliography will be of great benefit to global users. We are pleased to share Japanese cultural resources on a worldwide scale.”

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OCLC endorses KBART, joins DOAJ

OCLC is among the first organizations to endorse the recommendations of the KBART (Knowledge Bases And Related Tools) Working Group, a joint initiative of UKSG and NISO that is exploring data problems within the OpenURL supply chain.

OCLC is now a member of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), which provides access to quality-controlled open-access journals in order to boost their usage and impact.

‘Geek the Library’ campaign now available to all U.S. libraries

Geek the Library, a community-based public awareness campaign, is now available for adoption by any U.S. public library. The campaign is designed to highlight the vital role of public libraries in today’s challenging economic environment and to increase local library support. Geek the Library has proven ability to improve public perceptions about local library funding needs in test communities.

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OCLC recognizes 2010 award winners

Part of OCLC’s commitment to research and education includes furthering the advancement of librarianship. OCLC does this not only through its research and Innovation Lab, but also by financially supporting awards and scholarships. OCLC is proud to announce the following 2010 awards that recognize innovation and creativity in the library community.

OCLC/LITA Minority Scholarship in Library and Information Technology

Sofia Becerra-Licha, University North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Margaret Mann Citation

Olivia Marie A. Madison, Dean of the Library, Iowa State University

John Ames Humphry/OCLC Forest Press Award for International Librarianship

Jordan Scepanski and Lea Wells, Principals, Jordan Wells Associates

American Library Association’s Melvil Dewey Medal

Brian Schottlaender, Audrey Geisel University Librarian at the University of California, San Diego

Virginia Boucher—OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian

Cherié Weible, Head of Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery at the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign

Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology

Dr. John Willinsky, Khosla Family Professor of Education at Stanford University and Founder of the Public Knowledge Project

The next steps toward Web scale | Three new ways to experience WorldCat.org