WorldCat for genealogy research: Two paths to your roots

OCLC’s WorldCat database, the world’s largest bibliographic database, contains information about more than 105 million items owned by more than 60,000 libraries worldwide. Continual growth makes WorldCat a rich resource for genealogy researchers.

You can access WorldCat in two ways:

• through a library that offers on-site public access to WorldCat via the FirstSearch service; and
• through WorldCat.org, a destination search site that offers access from any computer with Internet access. WorldCat.org also offers convenient, portable search access via plug-ins for Web browsers and personalized Web pages as well as code for the WorldCat search box that can be placed on any Web site.

The tutorials linked below provide an overview of each access method to help get you started with WorldCat for your genealogy research.

Tutorial: Genealogical Research via WorldCat on FirstSearch (PDF, 26 pgs; 3.5M)

Tutorial: Genealogical Research via WorldCat.org (PDF, 9 pgs.; 1.5M)

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