WorldCat at a glance

WorldCat is a global network of library-management and user-facing services built upon cooperatively-maintained databases of bibliographic and institutional metadata. WorldCat enhances productivity across the full range of library workflows—from cataloging to resource sharing to discovery and delivery—by intelligently reusing contributed data, and makes library resources more visible on the Internet by distributing data across a growing number of partner services and Web technologies.

Benefits

• People broadly searching the Web find your collection
  Your content and online services are discovered by people at the Web's busiest sites—including Google and Yahoo!—using the method they know: simple keywords. You pull in new users and give existing ones a familiar way to reach you.
• Reduce costs and increase productivity
  The WorldCat platform of library services lets you tap into metadata contributed by thousands of libraries worldwide, so your staff powers through cataloging, resource sharing and other key processes.
• Get back into the Web generation's info-toolbox
  Internet users don't just search—they interact with what they find. WorldCat.org, the open-Web destination for access to WorldCat, lets them build lists, contribute reviews and spread information about library items all around the social Web.
• Build up any collection
  You dramatically increase the quantity and types of resources available to your users through WorldCat Resource Sharing, the FirstSearch reference service and electronic content subscriptions.
• Your library on a local, group, and global level
  Take the first step toward the only cooperative, Web-scale library service on the Web with WorldCat Local or WorldCat Local "quick start." You'll deliver local and global resources to your users in a single search. This connects your users' search experience with library management systems—today, that means WorldCat, your catalog, local availability and resource sharing. Soon, OCLC will take the next steps and pilot Web-scale delivery and circulation, license management, print and electronic acquisitions, and more.
• Better serve a culturally diverse community
  Unicode support lets WorldCat accept and display cataloging data from most modern languages. And non-English materials can easily be added to your shelves with ready-made Language Sets or retrieved from other libraries via WorldCat Resource Sharing.
• Support popular research segments
  Your library becomes a powerhouse for research of any sort, be it professional or personal. Genealogical resources are always in high demand, and WorldCat provides a gateway to family histories and related materials in libraries and historical societies around the world.
• Users see your materials first
  No matter what people are searching for, when they're actually in the library or logged in remotely, items in your collection bubble to the top of the list.
• No more jumping around reference interfaces
  Users inside and outside your library search seamlessly, because WorldCat is linked from and to your online catalog and link-resolving server, as well as other libraries' Z39.50 catalogs and the resources of many leading information services.
• People know quickly if they've found the right thing
  Cover art, reviews, excerpts and other rich evaluative information built into many WorldCat records helps them determine if a book is relevant or worth their time.
• People find the materials that are hard to find
  Rare books, research articles, dissertations or microfilm: Chances are that if it's been published, it's listed in WorldCat—with the libraries that have it.
• Simplify display of titles in multiple formats
  Information seekers don't wade through different records for versions of a popular title, such as the movie, the audiobook or translations. Varied expressions of a source work are collapsed in a single WorldCat record display.
• Fast, quality cataloging
  High hit rates and standards-based quality control mean you'll quickly find or create authoritative, accurate WorldCat records. Simple or expert interfaces, support for many formats and languages, and vendor-partnership programs help create a tailored solution.
• Fill 95 percent or better of borrowing requests
  The diverse materials of a 9,100-library network let you satisfy customers who don't care where information lives, and your collection seems bigger than it is. Onsite users can perform self-serve requests right from a reference interface, and they have materials in-hand faster.
• Analyze your collection again and again
  WorldCat Collection Analysis allows you to see what's unique, missing and duplicative in your holdings compared to other peer WorldCat libraries or those in your group. It's a great application of data you've already put in WorldCat that saves the expense and learning curve of do-it-yourself analyses.
• Custom-build a group solution
  Consortia of any size can assemble cataloging, search and resource-sharing services into an all-in-one WorldCat system with unlimited use and subscription pricing.
• Let the world see your special collections
  The CONTENTdm management solution for digitizing materials catalogs a collection in WorldCat and rewards your efforts with a larger Web audience once the metadata has been harvested.
• Get the data to support budgets and refine planning
  Generate reports within OCLC Usage Statistics to see how patrons are using WorldCat locally and traffic volume directed from WorldCat.org.
• A long history of technological advancement for libraries
  WorldCat is the centerpiece of OCLC, a 30-year-old cooperative committed to developing technology and standards that add efficiencies and speed access to information.

Your subscription also includes access to WorldCat Local "quick start" service, delivering local and global resources in a single search.

Requirements

• Contribute your library's holdings to WorldCat via WorldCat-enabled OCLC services (see "Join WorldCat" for a list of applicable services)
• Subscribe to the WorldCat database on the FirstSearch reference service and give your onsite and remotely authenticated patrons full-featured access to WorldCat (required for Web exposure of your holdings via WorldCat.org, Google, Yahoo! and other partner sites)