Provide library visibility on the Web.
Take advantage of a global catalog
The Internet is the first choice for most information seekers. With your holdings and other metadata contributed to WorldCat, WorldCat.org makes your library's resources more visible to more people on the Web. As the world's largest library catalog, it helps users find items in libraries close to them. So your reliable, verified information and personal assistance—the hallmarks of the library experience—gain greater exposure, credibility and use among people in your community and around the world.
Help users see which libraries hold the items they want
Once users have done a search on WorldCat.org, they scroll down for a list of WorldCat-participating libraries nearby that own the item. Your library's listing shows its distance from the user's location and links to a Google Map. You listing connects users to your "Library Info" page on WorldCat.org as well as to your "Ask a Librarian" virtual reference services and to your website's general information page, which lists locations, operating hours and phone numbers. WorldCat.org listings make it easy to see which libraries are the closest to the user. Any favorite libraries display first in listings—marked with a red heart—regardless of location.
Share your library's holdings across the Web
Information about your library's holdings and online services is actively spread across the Web via strategic partnerships with key sites such as Google and Goodreads as well as by social and distributed Web technologies such as APIs, widgets and mobile and social apps that appeal to users, other information providers and e-businesses.
The result? Your local resources gain a global presence, become part of people's normal Web workflow and get in front of the increasing number of people who rely almost exclusively on the Internet.
Engage users where they are searching and deliver your content
Internet users don't just search, they interact with what they find. WorldCat.org lets them build and share lists, contribute reviews, put a WorldCat search box or other widget on their personal site, use WorldCat apps in Facebook and on their mobile phone and generally spread information about library items all around the social Web.
Be a part of unique views into library collections
The cooperative knowledge behind WorldCat enables exciting research about the world's collective library collections. For example, The Library 100 is a list of the top novels held in libraries, based on that data. The list links all these books back to WorldCat.org where they can then be found in nearby WorldCat libraries.
"The most wonderful thing about WorldCat.org is that it takes the power of our collective catalogs and combines them with an interface our users can understand."
Lee-Anne Flandreau
Information Services Librarian, Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, Vancouver, Washington
WorldCat.org makes your library’s resources more visible to information seekers on a freely available database and websites where most people begin their research. This broad visibility promotes libraries as a vital information source and allows anyone to quickly and easily access resources in libraries near or far.
Service availability
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WorldCat.org global catalog
Available everywhere