Skip to page content

United States (English) Change
Facts and statistics

WorldCat gold records
WorldCat : Facts and statistics : WorldCat gold records

WorldCat Gold Records

Each bibliographic record that is contributed to WorldCat is assigned an OCLC control ("accession") number. Records that help WorldCat cross each million-record milestone are considered "gold" records and are listed below.

Improvements in OCLC's batch processing service, which loads large files of existing catalog information from institutions around the world, have led to a dramatic increase in the rate at which these milestones are reached. The WorldCat database will continue to grow at a rapid pace, as libraries continue to catalog their print, electronic and digital collections and many national and regional libraries worldwide add their records. Each cataloging record contributed to WorldCat makes the OCLC cooperative stronger.

Note: Each Gold Record number shown below may not have necessarily reflected the total number of records in WorldCat at the time: Over time, many records are merged or deleted as part of ongoing quality control processes.

About article citations
In March 2007, OCLC began to load approximately 35 million article citation records for discovery via WorldCat.org. Because of their limited bibliographic structure, these article-level records are kept separately from bibliographic records in WorldCat. The records are still assigned OCLC accession numbers, but they do not apply to the Gold Record count. Full bibliographic records contributed via OCLC's various cataloging services will continue to be tracked independently as the count climbs to 100 million.


Record number Institution name Date
86
million		 South African Library Consortium 18 March 2007
85
million		 National Gallery of Canada 24 February 2007
84
million		 Godfrey Memorial Library 16 February 2007
83
million		 Dickerson College 13 February 2007
82
million		 Duke University Library 5 February 2007
81
million		 Harvard University Library 31 January 2007
80
million		 New York Public Library 25 January 2007
79
million		 General Microfilm Company 20 January 2007
78
million		 European Register of Microfilm and Digital Masters 14 January 2007
77
million		 Harvard University Archives 15 December 2006
76
million		 Deutsche Nationalbibliothek 15 November 2006
75
million		 Deutsche Nationalbibliothek 4 November 2006
74
million		 Deutsche Nationalbibliothek 21 October 2006
73
million		 Deutsche Nationalbibliothek 15 October 2006
72
million		 Deutsche Nationalbibliothek 6 October 2006
71
million		 Center for Research Libraries, Chicago, Illinois 21 August 2006
70
million		 Biblioteca Regional de Medicina, Brazil 7 June 2006
69
million		 Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands 19 May 2006
68
million		 Edinboro University of Pennsylvania 1 May 2006
67
million		 The Peace Palace Library, The Hague, The Netherlands 18 April 2006
66
million		 Arnhem Public Library, The Netherlands 9 April 2006
65
million		 Leiden University Libraries, The Netherlands 18 March 2006
64
million		 Cornell University Library 17 February 2006
63
million		 Toronto Public Library

18 January 2006
62
million		 Niedersächsische Staatsund Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, the Goettingen State and University Library in Goettingen, Germany 12 October 2005
61
million		 The National Library of Education in Copenhagen, Denmark 16 July 2005
60
million		 Surrey County Libraries/Kent County Council Arts and Libraries, UK 2 May 2005
59
million		 Reformed Theological Seminary Library, Jackson, Mississippi 15 April 2005
58
million		 University of Helsinki 3 March 2005
57
million		 Baltimore Hebrew University, Baltimore, Maryland 19 November 2004
56
million		 The Institute of Governmental Studies, Berkeley, California 23 July 2004
55
million		 Geauga County (Ohio) Public Library 22 April 2004
54
million		 Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Library 9 January 2004
53
million		 Reformed Theological Seminary Library 10 September 2003
52
million		 University of California, Irvine 8 April 2003
51
million		 British Library 14 November 2002
50
million		 State Library of Pennsylvania 14 June 2002
49
million		 Seattle Public Library 21 March 2002
48
million		 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale 20 September 2001
47
million		 Allegheny College 23 May 2001
46
million		 Boston Public Library 21 February 2001
45
million		 University of Colorado, Boulder 12 September 2000
44
million		 Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine 08 May 2000
43
million		 U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) 14 December 1999
42
million		 University of Miami Music Library 03 August 1999
41
million		 University of Illinois, Chicago Library 19 March 1999
40
million		 Harid Conservatory Music Library 04 October 1998
39
million		 OCLC TechPro for Mid-Continent Public Library 23 April 1998
38
million		 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 24 November 1997
37
million		 State University of New York, Buffalo 16 July 1997
36
million		 Cornell University 20 December 1996
35
million		 Eden-Webster Library 19 July 1996
34
million		 Phoenix Public Library 06 January 1996
33
million		 Kansas City Public Library 17 August 1995
32
million		 University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland 16 February 1995
31
million		 Indiana University, Bloomington 24 August 1994
30
million		 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale 22 March 1994
29
million		 Ohio University 13 October 1993
28
million		 OCLC TechPro for Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society 28 April 1993
27
million		 Brandeis University 19 November 1992
26
million		 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 12 June 1992
25
million		 Brandeis University 19 December 1991
24
million		 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 27 June 1991
23
million		 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 23 January 1991
22
million		 Boston Public Library 13 July 1990
21
million		 Indiana University School of Music Library, Bloomington 03 February 1990
20
million		 Dallas Community College District 12 July 1989
19
million		 OCLC RetroCon for University of Massachusetts, Amherst 10 January 1989
18
million		 University of Washington, Seattle 25 May 1988
17
million		 Duke University, Durham 18 November 1987
16
million		 Wellesley College 06 May 1987
15
million		 University of California, Berkeley 22 December 1986
14
million		 Colorado College 01 August 1986
13
million		 University of Illinois, Chicago 10 January 1986
12
million		 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 06 May 1985
11
million		 University Music Library, Bloomington 28 July 1984
10
million		 California State College 11 October 1983
9
million		 University of Denver 29 November 1982
8
million		 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale 16 December 1981
7
million		 Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago 04 December 1980
6
million		 State University of New York, Syracuse Health Sciences Library 19 February 1980
5
million		 University of Louisville 24 May 1979
4
million		 University of North Carolina, Greensboro 24 June 1978
3
million		 State University of New York, Potsdam 27 May 1977
2
million		 Boston University School of Technology 18 February 1976
1
million		 Northeastern University 06 September 1974