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WorldCat : Join WorldCat

Join WorldCat

Be a part of a unique cooperative system that reduces end-to-end information costs, keeps you on the leading edge of technology and library science, and inserts your content and services into the Web workspaces of a new generation. Here's how your library can be a part of WorldCat:

Components of WorldCat participation

  1. Contribute your holdings and other metadata via one or more of these OCLC services:

    You may also join or form a consortium or library service group that contributes its collective holdings to WorldCat. (In the U.K., groups that contribute to WorldCat include UnityUK and LinkUK.)

    Contributing libraries are bound by OCLC's Principles of Cooperation and its associated guidelines.

  2. OPTIONAL: Subscribe to the WorldCat database on the FirstSearch reference service
    (Required for Web exposure of your holdings via WorldCat.org, Google, Yahoo! and other partner sites)

    Your library or library group enjoys the benefits of broad Web exposure when you give on-site and remotely authenticated patrons enhanced access to WorldCat through FirstSearch. (WorldCat on FirstSearch features advanced search capabilities and additional evaluative content.) Your subscription financially supports the costs associated with building and maintaining the open systems that spread WorldCat data around the Web.

    Learn more about FirstSearch subscription options


  3. Receive membership in OCLC
    All libraries that contribute to WorldCat (via the services listed above) earn membership in the OCLC cooperative and its associated benefits, including having a voice in its future plans.

    Learn more about levels of OCLC membership

Get started now

For enquiries in UK and Ireland, please contact OCLC:

7th Floor, Tricorn House,
51-53 Hagley Road
Birmingham, B16 8TP United Kingdom
T +44 (0) 121 456 4656
F +44 (0) 121 456 4680
E uk@oclc.org

You'll learn more about becoming an OCLC member library, the ways you can best contribute holdings to WorldCat, and how to start a subscription to FirstSearch.