OCLC cataloging application comparison

Create new WorldCat^® records one at a time for print and electronic items to make your library’s rare and distinctive items discoverable. Save time by enriching and sharing existing records, setting and deleting your library’s holdings, and exporting WorldCat records for local use. Choose the service that best meets the needs of your unique library.

info We’re discontinuing Connexion® browser and the CatExpress user interface on 30 April 2024. Learn more about how to make the switch to WorldShare Record Manager from Connexion browser and CatExpress.

Record editing and creation

	Connexion browser Express tab	Connexion browser	Connexion client	WorldShare Record Manager	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Edit records in MARC tag view (such as "245")	Yes Limited to adding local fields.	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Edit records in MARC text view (such as "Title")	Yes Limited to adding local fields.	No	No	Yes Limited to books, audiobooks, images, sound recordings, and videos.	No	No
Edit bibliographic records in Dublin Core view	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Edit bibliographic records using non-Latin scripts	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Transliterate Latin text to non-Latin text	No	No	Yes (Arabic, Persian)	Yes (Arabic, Persian, and eight languages written in Cyrillic script)	No	No
Create new authority and bibliographic records for original cataloging	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes Bibliographic records only.
Create, edit, and delete local holdings records (LHRs)	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Move local holdings records (LHRs) to a different bibliographic record	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Manage local bibliographic data (LBD)	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Import MARC records	No	Yes MARC-8 character set.	Yes MARC-8 or Unicode (UTF-8) character set.	No	No	No
Use constant data for bibliographic records to store and apply frequently used text	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Use constant data for local holdings records (LHRs) to store and apply frequently used text	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Use constant data for authority records to store and apply frequently used text	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Check spelling	No	No	Yes	Yes Relies on user's browser spellcheck features.	No	No
Work offline, not connected to OCLC	No	No	Yes	No	No	No

Actions

	Connexion browser Express tab	Connexion browser	Connexion client	WorldShare Record Manager	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Validate records	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Add holdings to bibliographic records	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Upgrade authority and WorldCat bibliographic records	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
View total number of library holdings on bibliographic records	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Display list of libraries that hold bibliographic records	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Delete holdings on bibliographic records	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Delete own bibliographic record	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Control authorized headings in bibliographic records and link the headings to the Authority File record	No	Yes LC only.	Yes LC only.	Yes Access to additional authority files, including: AAT (Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus) BNE (Biblioteca Nacional de España) Canadiana (French Names and Canadian Subjects) FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) GND Authorities (German Integrated Authority file) LC (Library of Congress) Māori Subject Headings MeSH Authorities (Medical Subject Headings) NTA Names (Dutch Names) RVM (Répertoire de vedettes-matière)	No	Yes Functions are performed automatically when record is added to the database.
Autosuggest LC and Canadiana Names	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Autosuggest FAST subject headings	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Submit bibliographic records to other institutions for review prior to finalizing	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Submit Library of Congress authority records to other institutions for review prior to finalizing	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Submit Canadiana authority records to other institutions for review prior to finalizing	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Process multiple actions at one time	No	No. You can mark records for export and label print, retrieve the marked records, and process the group at once.	Yes	Yes Using bulk actions for local bibliographic data and local holdings records.	No	No
Print labels	Yes Label formats: SP1, SL4, SL6, SLB.	Yes Label formats: SP1, SL4, SL6, SLB.	Yes Label formats: SP1, SL4, SL6, SLB.	Yes Label formats: Custom, A12360, L7651, SP1, SL4, SL6, SLB.	No	No
Create label file	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
View other libraries’ local holdings records (LHRs)	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Create a customizable condensed bibliographic record search results list	No	No	No	Yes	No	No

Record output

	Connexion browser Express tab	Connexion browser	Connexion client	WorldShare Record Manager	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Export records to a file	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Export records via a TCP/IP connection	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Export records via an OCLC Gateway Export session to display messages from your local system	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Export records via a printer/comm port	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Export records in MARC 21 format	Yes Bibliographic records with MARC-8 character set in Latin script.	Yes Authority and bibliographic records with MARC-8 character set in Latin script.	Yes Authority and bibliographic records with MARC-8 or UTF-8 Unicode character set in Latin or non-Latin scripts.	Yes Authority and bibliographic records with MARC-8 or UTF-8 Unicode character set in Latin or non-Latin scripts.	No	Yes Bib only.
Export records in Dublin Core format	No	Yes Bibliographic records, Dublin Core Simple or Qualified in HTML and RDF.	Yes Bibliographic records, Dublin Core Qualified in XML with the UTF-8 Unicode character set.	Yes	No	No
Export records in MARCXML format	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Export records in MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) format	No	No	No	Yes	No	No

Databases and files

	Connexion browser Express tab	Connexion browser	Connexion client	WorldShare Record Manager	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Access WorldCat®	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Access LC Name and Subject Authority Files, including distributed and superseded versions of records	No	Yes	Yes	Yes Access to additional authority files, including: AAT (Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus) BNE (Biblioteca Nacional de España) Canadiana (French Names and Canadian Subjects) FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) GND Authorities (German Integrated Authority file) LC (Library of Congress) Māori Subject Headings MeSH Authorities (Medical Subject Headings) NTA Names (Dutch Names) RVM (Répertoire de vedettes-matière)	Yes	No
Use online save file stored locally for temporary record storage	No	Yes Shared between Connexion and Record Manager.	Yes Shared between Connexion and Record Manager.	Yes Shared between Connexion and Record Manager.	No	No
Use offline save file stored locally for temporary record storage	No	No	Yes	No	No	No

System access

	CatExpress	Connexion browser	Connexion client	WorldShare Record Manager	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Set and delete WorldCat holdings for other libraries using agent or group functionality	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Maintain local holdings records (LHRs) for other libraries using agent or group functionality	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Store user-specific customization	Yes Set preferences for each authorization number.	Yes Set preferences for each authorization number.	Yes Set preferences for each user of the workstation.	Yes Set preferences for each user.	No	No

Miscellaneous

	Connexion browser Express tab	Connexion browser	Connexion client	WorldShare Record Manager	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Macros	No	No	Yes	No. However, some functions commonly performed using Connexion macros are replicated using native features.	No	No
Dewey Cutter tools	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Interface language	English French	English	English Chinese - Simplified Chinese - Traditional German Japanese Korean Spanish	English French Chinese - Simplified Chinese - Traditional German Italian Japanese Korean Spanish Dutch	Language independent	N/A
Cataloging statistics	Institution summary and cataloger specific statistics available at the OCLC Usage Statistics site.	Institution summary and cataloger specific statistics available at the OCLC Usage Statistics site.	Institution summary and cataloger specific statistics available at the OCLC Usage Statistics site.	Institution summary statistics available within the Analytics tab of your library’s WorldShare interface.	Institution summary and cataloger specific statistics available at the OCLC Usage Statistics site.	Institution summary statistics available within the Analytics tab of your library’s WorldShare interface.