Improving access to library materials

New features speed digital delivery and bring collections to the small screen

WorldCat Local libraries now have mobile views

Recently, OCLC made available a new mobile view for both WorldCat Local and “quick start” libraries. This is important, as the growth of smartphone use is climbing, and experts predict more and more users will be accessing information from mobile devices. The new, mobile-specific site for WorldCat Local is optimized for the Apple iOS and Android platforms, but any smartphone browser, including Windows 7 Mobile and BlackBerry, is supported. This “beta” mobile update is included with current WorldCat Local and “quick start” subscriptions at no extra charge.

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WorldCat Local adds one-click access to e-items

Direct links to full-text articles and open-access objects from brief results have recently been added to WorldCat Local and WorldCat.org. This enhancement was based on user testing and a variety of requests to add more functionality to brief results lists. It is also an example of library cooperation being leveraged to better meet users’ needs: when members add data about electronic content and linking to the WorldCat knowledge base, that powers the “View Now” link for everyone. This is true for unique, local content as well as major, multilibrary projects like the HathiTrust.

WorldCat Local has also passed the 700 million mark in terms of the number of items that subscribers can access through the service.

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What's inside a WorldCat Local subscription?

WorldCat Local includes access to a wide variety of electronic, licensed, physical and locally digitized materials. Links to more than 2.2 billion specific library items and pieces of evaluative content help add even more value to the discovery process.

Databases/collections	1,174
ISSNs represented by article content	68,946
Articles	440,692,253
E-books	10,024,963
Institutional repository records	29,235,031
Theses and dissertations	14,860,482
Sound recordings	7,339,725
Visual materials	5,506,879
Web/Internet resources	23,653,890
Archival materials	1,074,034
Serials	8,825,181
Conference proceedings	8,163,158
Musical scores	4,943,226
Maps (including atlases & gazetteers)	3,365,826
Books	179,692,253
Evaluative content items	40,683,220

As of December 1, 2010. See the WorldCat Local Web page for the most up-to-date content statistics.

WorldCat knowledge base helps libraries connect users to online articles, e-books with a single click

Until recently, it was not unusual for users to expect to wait for days when requesting an interlibrary loan of an article from another library. The process involved a number of manual steps, often requiring librarians to consult multiple systems to determine local availability. Now, major new improvements to WorldCat Resource Sharing and ILLiad make it possible to fill requests for electronic articles within hours, often on the same day as the request is made.

“We’ve been automating the interlibrary loan process for books since the mid 1990s, ” says Tony Melvyn, Product Manager for WorldCat Resource Sharing. “Now we can do the same thing for licensed materials, getting them into the hands of users much more quickly and easily.”

These improvements are based primarily on two additions to WorldCat—new knowledge base functionality and a license management tool.

How it works:

• Users place article requests through WorldCat Resource Sharing or ILLiad.

• The bibliographic record for the requested item is located in WorldCat.

• The WorldCat knowledge base provides information about which libraries have access to the electronic article.

• If your library provides access to the article, the service sends the request to your review file with the URL for the item.

• If your library does not provide access to the article, your custom holdings setting determine appropriate lenders.

• Lenders that have added their local knowledge base data into the WorldCat knowledge base receive a request that contains the URL of the item in their collection.

• The license management tool determines whether and how a lender can loan the article.

• The lending library reviews the request, along with embedded information about usage rights for the material (“Send electronic copy,” “Print and send” or “Print and scan.”)

In many cases, use of the new feature means that ILL staff can complete article transactions without ever leaving their desks. The knowledge base and license management functions work together behind the scenes to find the requested ISSN, match it against libraries that own the title, and then narrow the request to those that have the rights to loan it.

“Direct request for articles not only streamlined staff article processing procedures, but also enhanced our customer service,” says Barbara Coopey, Assistant Head, Access Services and Head, Interlibrary Loan, Penn State University Libraries. “Having the knowledge base and license manager in place reduced staff time spent on manually checking our Libraries’ catalog, databases and licensing resource. During the trial, 75 percent of our direct e-journal article requests were filled by one of the participating libraries within one day.”

“The statistics we’re seeing from early adopters of the service confirm our best-case estimates,” adds Tony. “People are able to get these materials delivered within a few hours rather than over the course of days. That’s a huge win for the library in terms of meeting users’ expectations for today’s information services.”

What is the WorldCat Knowledge Base?

The WorldCat knowledge base provides a single, centralized place that connects data about your library's electronic content and linking features to related OCLC services. WorldCat knowledge base information currently enables a “view now” link in both brief and detailed result screens for electronic materials in WorldCat Local and speeds the resource sharing workflow for articles. This functionality is incorporated at no additional charge into related OCLC services as part of your cataloging subscription. In the future, WorldCat knowledge base data will be available for use in other OCLC and non-OCLC services including OpenURL resolvers, profiles to automatically set holdings for electronic materials, and an API for programmatic access to knowledge base data.

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