WorldCat: Difference between revisions

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__INDEX__
{{Short description|International union library catalog}}
{{Short description|International union library catalog}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2017}}
{{Extract-photo|[[File:WorldCat homepage.png|thumb|right]]}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Extract-text|WorldCat}}
{{Self reference|For information on using WorldCat links in Wikipedia articles, see [[Template:OCLC]].}}
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{{Infobox website
| name                = WorldCat
| logo                = WorldCat logo.svg
| logo_size            =
| logo_alt            = Five-color WorldCat emblem, with WorldCat in black letters and OCLC in smaller grey letters
| logo_caption        =
| screenshot          = WorldCat homepage.png
| collapsible          = y
| collapsetext        = Screenshot
| background          = gainsboro <!-- for collapsetext heading; default grey (gainsboro) -->
| screenshot_size      =
| screenshot_alt      =
| caption              = WorldCat [[homepage]] as of June 2019
| url                  = {{Official URL}}
| commercial          = No
| type                = Network of library content and services
| registration        = Optional, but some features require registration (such as writing reviews and making lists or bibliographies)
| language            = {{hlist|Chinese (Simplified)|Chinese (Traditional)|Czech|Dutch|English|French|German|Italian|Korean|Japanese|Portuguese|Spanish|Thai|Urdu}}
| language_count      = 13
| language_footnote    = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldcat.org/account/?page=searchItems|title=Search for library items|website=WorldCat|publisher=[[OCLC]]|access-date=2017-03-29}}</ref>
| num_users            =
| content_license      = [http://www.oclc.org/en/policies/copyright.html Copyright policy]
| programming_language =
| owner                = [[OCLC]]
| launch_date          = {{start date and age|1998|1|21}} (date of registry of the new [[domain name]]; the database already existed since 1971)<ref>1998 is the date of registry of the WorldCat.org domain; see: {{cite web|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/worldcat.org|title=WorldCat.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools|work=[[WHOIS]]|access-date=2017-01-21}} However, the union catalog that became WorldCat was started three decades earlier, and it was already available on the web to subscriber libraries at OCLC.org several years before WorldCat.org was a registered domain name; see: {{cite web|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/oclc.org|title=OCLC.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools|work=[[WHOIS]]|access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref>
| issn                = <!-- ISSN, e.g. 1085-6706 (automatically linked to http://www.worldcat.org) -->
| oclc                = 756372754
| current_status      = Online
}}


'''WorldCat''' is a [[union catalog]] that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly [[library|libraries]]), in many countries, that are current or past members of the [[OCLC]] global cooperative.<ref>The 2012–2013 OCLC Annual Report noted that the number of "participating libraries (includes active and inactive symbols)" was 78,985: {{cite report |url=https://cdm15003.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15003coll7/id/108 |title=2012–2013 OCLC Annual Report |page=5 |oclc=1226313226 |access-date=2022-03-10}}</ref> It is operated by OCLC, Inc.<ref name="InsideWorldCat">{{cite web |title=Inside WorldCat |url=https://www.oclc.org/en/worldcat/inside-worldcat.html |website=www.oclc.org |publisher=OCLC |access-date=19 June 2021}}</ref> Many of the OCLC member libraries collectively maintain WorldCat's [[database]], the world's largest [[bibliographic database]].<ref name="largest">{{cite book |last=Oswald |first=Godfrey |date=2017 |chapter=Largest unified international library catalog |title=Library world records |edition=3rd |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |page=291 |isbn=9781476667775 |oclc=959650095 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA291}}</ref> The database includes other information sources in addition to member library collections.<ref>{{cite web |title=Content available through WorldCat Discovery |url=https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/worldcat-discovery/contentlist.xls |format=XLS |language=en |website=www.oclc.org |publisher=OCLC |access-date=2020-09-22}}</ref> OCLC makes WorldCat itself available free to libraries, but the catalog is the foundation for other subscription OCLC services (such as [[interlibrary loan|resource sharing]] and collection management). WorldCat is used by librarians for cataloging and research and by the general public.
[[Category:Extracted pages]]
 
{{As of|December 2021}}, WorldCat contained over 540 million bibliographic records in 483 languages, representing over 3 billion physical and digital library assets,<ref name="InsideWorldCat" /> and the WorldCat persons dataset ([[Data mining|mined]] from WorldCat) included over 100 million people.<ref>{{cite web |title=Data strategy [WorldCat] |website=oclc.org |url=https://www.oclc.org/en/worldcat/data-strategy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085820/https://www.oclc.org/en/worldcat/data-strategy.html |archive-date=2019-03-27 |access-date=2018-02-11}}</ref>
 
=={{anchor|Identifier}}History==
[[OCLC]] was founded in 1967 under the leadership of [[Fred Kilgour]].<ref name="Fox">{{cite news|author=Margalit Fox|title=Frederick G. Kilgour, Innovative Librarian, Dies at 92|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/us/02kilgour.html|quote=Frederick G. Kilgour, a distinguished librarian who nearly 40 years ago transformed a consortium of Ohio libraries into what is now the largest library cooperative in the world, making the catalogs of thousands of libraries around the globe instantly accessible to far-flung patrons, died on Monday in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 92.|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 2, 2006|access-date=2009-12-22|author-link=Margalit Fox}}</ref> That same year, OCLC began to develop the union catalog technology that would later evolve into WorldCat; the first catalog records were added in 1971.<ref name="Fox" /><ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/catalog/timeline.en.html|title=A brief history of WorldCat|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=February 10, 2015|website= oclc.org|access-date=February 13, 2014}}</ref>
 
In 2003, OCLC began the "Open WorldCat" pilot program, making abbreviated records from a subset of WorldCat available to partner web sites and booksellers, to increase the accessibility of its subscribing member libraries' collections.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=O'Neill|first=Nancy|date=Nov–Dec 2004|title=Open WorldCat Pilot: A User's Perspective|journal=Searcher|language=en|volume=12|issue=10|pages=54–60|oclc=201889986|issn=1070-4795}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Quint |first=Barbara |date=October 27, 2003 |title=OCLC project opens WorldCat records to Google |url=http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/OCLC-Project-Opens-WorldCat-Records-to-Google-16592.asp |website=infotoday.com |publisher=[[Information Today]] |access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref>
 
In October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a [[wiki]] project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/wikid.html|title=WikiD|publisher=OCLC|language=en-US|access-date=March 5, 2015}}</ref> WikiD was later phased out, although WorldCat later incorporated [[user-generated content]] in other ways.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/publications/newsletters/nextspace/nextspace_007.pdf|title=A WorldCat community: using WorldCat.org to build a social network of the world's library users|last=Storey|first=Tom|date=September 2007|journal=NextSpace|access-date=2019-06-26|publisher=OCLC|issue=7|pages=16–17|issn=1559-0011|quote=Online ratings, tags, reviews, recommendations, lists, rankings, personal profiles—the social media revolution is here. It seems the world has exploded with Web 2.0, social networking tools and sites.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bertot |first1=John Carlo |last2=Berube |first2=Katy |last3=Devereaux |first3=Peter |last4=Dhakal |first4=Kerry |last5=Powers |first5=Stephen |last6=Ray |first6=Jennie |date=April 2012 |title=Assessing the usability of WorldCat Local: findings and considerations |journal=[[The Library Quarterly]] |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=207–221 |doi=10.1086/664588 |jstor=10.1086/664588 |s2cid=61287720 |quote=Breeding [2] also makes the following observations about the benefits of the search system: the presence of a more visually appealing interface; the grouping of related material; faceted navigation; and the capability for user-generated content (e.g., reviews). Eden [3] also refers to the advantages of user-generated content possible in WCL...}}</ref>
 
In 2006, it became possible for anyone to search WorldCat directly at its open website WorldCat.org,<ref name="Hane">{{cite web |last=Hane |first=Paula J. |date=July 17, 2006 |title=OCLC to open WorldCat searching to the world |url=http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/OCLC-to-Open-WorldCat-Searching-to-the-World-16951.asp |website=infotoday.com |publisher=[[Information Today]] |access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> not only through the subscription FirstSearch interface where it had been available on the web to subscribing libraries for more than a decade before.<ref>{{cite book |last=Prucha |first=Francis Paul |date=1994 |chapter=National online library catalogs |title=Handbook for research in American history: a guide to bibliographies and other reference works |edition=2nd |location=Lincoln |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookforresea0002pruc/page/25 25–27] |isbn=0803237014 |oclc=28018047 |quote=Online Computer Library Center has developed two new programs. One is called EPIC, a new command-driven full online service with sophisticated searching features, including subject searches, intended for librarians and other experienced users. The other, designed for end-users, is FirstSearch, which contains the database materials found in EPIC or subsets of them but has a menu interface that nonspecialists find easy to use. Both EPIC and FirstSearch make available the full OCLC Online Union Catalog (called WorldCat in FirstSearch), but they also function as online database services, offering their users a wide array of other databases.}}</ref> Options for more sophisticated searches of WorldCat have remained available through the FirstSearch interface.<ref name="Hane"/>
 
In 2007, WorldCat Identities began providing pages for 20 million "identities", which are [[metadata]] about names—predominantly authors and persons who are the subjects of published titles.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/publications/newsletters/nextspace/nextspace_006.pdf|title=WorldCat Identities: Another View of the Catalog|last=Hickey|first=Thomas B.|date=April 15, 2007|journal=NextSpace|access-date=2016-01-18|publisher=OCLC|issue=6|pages=18–19|issn=1559-0011}}</ref>
 
In 2017, OCLC's WorldCat Search [[Application programming interface|API]] was integrated into the cite tool of Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:VisualEditor|VisualEditor]], allowing Wikipedia editors to cite sources from WorldCat easily.<ref>{{cite web |title=OCLC and Wikipedia Library link citations to millions of library materials, expanding access to quality sources |url=https://www.oclc.org/es/news/releases/2017/201713dublin.html |date=May 11, 2017 |publisher=OCLC |website=oclc.org |access-date=April 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209200200/http://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2017/201713dublin.html |archive-date=December 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Orlowitz |first=Jake |date=May 11, 2017 |title=You can now add automatically generated citations to millions of books on Wikipedia |url=https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/05/11/wikimedia-oclc-partnership/ |website=blog.wikimedia.org |publisher=[[Wikimedia Foundation]] |access-date=April 25, 2020}}</ref>
 
Beginning in 2017, OCLC and the [[Internet Archive]] have collaborated to make the Internet Archive's records of digitized books available in WorldCat.<ref>{{cite web |last=Michalko |first=Jim |date=October 12, 2017 |title=Syncing Catalogs with thousands of Libraries in 120 Countries through OCLC |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/10/12/syncing-catalogs-with-thousands-of-libraries-in-120-countries-through-oclc/ |website=blog.archive.org |publisher=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2020-07-18}}</ref>
 
In August 2022, OCLC launched a "redesigned and reimagined" WorldCat.org website with the stated goal "to offer greater accessibility to the collections".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.infodocket.com/2022/08/24/wc/#:~:text=The%20new%20WorldCat.org%20site,of%20hundreds%20of%20U.S.%20libraries. |author=Gary Price |title=OCLC Officially Announces the Launch of a 'Redesigned and Reimagined' WorldCat.org |website=InfoDocket.com |date=2022-08-24 |access-date=2022-08-29}}</ref> The website now requires the use of [[JavaScript]] and is therefore no longer accessible for users of older web browsers or those that have [[:MW:No-JavaScript notes|JavaScript disabled]] for [[JavaScript#Security|security reasons]]. The update also removed users' book reviews and replaced them with reviews from [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] subsidiary [[GoodReads]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldcat.org/faq |title=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=WorldCat |access-date=2022-08-29}}</ref>
 
==System architecture==
Local catalogs of many OCLC member libraries are intermittently synchronized with the WorldCat database.<ref>{{cite web |title=About data sync collections – OCLC Support |url=https://help.oclc.org/Metadata_Services/WorldShare_Collection_Manager/Data_sync_collections/About_data_sync_collections_in_Collection_Manager/About_data_sync_collections |language=en |website=www.oclc.org |date=April 14, 2017 |publisher=OCLC |access-date=2021-06-18}}</ref> WorldCat allows participating institutions to add direct links from WorldCat to their own local catalog entries for particular items, which enables the user to click through to the local catalog to quickly determine an item's real-time status (for example, whether or not it is checked out).<ref name="whatis">{{cite web |title=What is WorldCat? |work=worldcat.org |access-date=2015-02-13 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/whatis/}}</ref>
 
In a small percentage of libraries,<ref>{{cite web|access-date=April 25, 2020 |last=Schonfeld |first=Roger C. |title=What are the larger implications of Ex Libris buying Innovative? |url=https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/what-are-the-larger-implications-of-ex-libris-buying-innovative/ |website=sr.ithaka.org |date=2019-12-05 |quote=OCLC's WorldShare cloud system has yet to achieve critical mass, amounting to 10% of the academic market (but only 4% of [[Association of Research Libraries|ARL]]), and OCLC's entire public library business represents just 10% of the public library market.}} For another source of statistics on library system market share, see: {{cite web |title=Library Technology Guides: Marketshare Report |url=https://librarytechnology.org/products/marketshare.pl |website=librarytechnology.org}}</ref> the local catalog is also run by OCLC using an [[integrated library system]] called WorldCat Discovery and WorldShare Management Services.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Breeding |first=Marshall |date=March 2014 |title=OCLC announces WorldCat Discovery service |journal=Smart Libraries Newsletter |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=6–7 |url=https://librarytechnology.org/document/19032 |publisher=[[American Library Association]] |issn=1541-8820}}</ref>
 
Library contributions to WorldCat are made via the Connexion computer program,<ref>{{cite web |title=Connexion – Features |url=https://www.oclc.org/en/connexion/features.html |language=en |website=www.oclc.org |publisher=OCLC |access-date=2021-06-18}}</ref> which was introduced in 2001; its predecessor, OCLC Passport, was phased out in May 2005.<ref>{{cite mailing list |last=Dean |first=Becky |title=OCLC Authorities migration timeline |mailing-list=bibco@listserv.loc.gov |date=March 3, 2005 |url=https://listserv.loc.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0503&L=BIBCO&P=55 |access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> [[Cataloging]] librarians may also use the WorldShare Record Manager<ref>{{cite web |title=WorldShare Record Manager: Record-at-a-time cataloging service |url=https://www.oclc.org/en/worldshare-record-manager.html |language=en |website=www.oclc.org |date=April 2, 2021 |publisher=OCLC |access-date=2021-06-18}}</ref> or WorldCat Metadata API<ref>{{cite web |title=WorldCat Metadata API {{!}} OCLC Developer Network |url=https://www.oclc.org/developer/develop/web-services/worldcat-metadata-api.en.html |language=en |website=www.oclc.org |publisher=OCLC |access-date=2021-06-18}}</ref> for similar purposes.<ref>{{cite web |title=OCLC cataloging application comparison |url=https://www.oclc.org/go/en/oclc-cataloging-application-comparison.html |language=en |website=www.oclc.org |publisher=OCLC |access-date=2021-06-18}}</ref>
 
==See also==
* [[Copac]]
* [[Faceted Application of Subject Terminology]] (FAST)
* [[List of academic databases and search engines]]
* [[Open Library]]
 
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
 
==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Blackman |first1=Cathy |last2=Moore |first2=Erica Rae |last3=Seikel |first3=Michele |last4=Smith |first4=Mandi |date=July 2014 |title=WorldCat and SkyRiver: a comparison of record quantity and fullness |journal=Library Resources & Technical Services |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=178–186 |doi=10.5860/lrts.58n3.178 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last=Breeding |first=Marshall |date=May 2015 |title=Library services platforms: a maturing genre of products |journal=Library Technology Reports |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.5860/ltr.51n4 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Matthews |first=Joseph R. |date=July 2016 |title=An environmental scan of OCLC alternatives: a management perspective |journal=Public Library Quarterly |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=175–187 |doi=10.1080/01616846.2016.1210440|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite techreport |last=McKenzie |first=Elizabeth |date=January 2012 |title=OCLC changes its rules for use of records in WorldCat: library community pushback through blogs and cultures of resistance|number=Research paper 12-06|location=Boston |institution=[[Suffolk University Law School]]|url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=1988221}}
* {{cite book|date=1997|title=What the OCLC online union catalog means to me: a collection of essays|location=Dublin, Ohio|publisher=OCLC|isbn=1556532237|oclc=37492023}}
* {{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Kristen|date=August 2016|title=The knowledge base at the center of the universe|journal=Library Technology Reports|volume=52|issue=6|pages=1–35|doi=10.5860/ltr.52n6 }}
* {{cite web |title=WorldCat data licensing|url=https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/worldcat/documents/worldcat-data-licensing.pdf|website=oclc.org|access-date=2018-12-31}} See also: {{cite web|title=Data licenses & attribution |url=https://www.oclc.org/developer/develop/data-sets/attribution.en.html|website=oclc.org| date=January 14, 2017|access-date=2018-12-31}} Information about licensing of WorldCat records and some other OCLC data.
{{Refend}}
 
== External links ==
* {{Official website}}
* {{cite web |title=WorldCat |url=https://www.oclc.org/en/worldcat.html |publisher=oclc.org |access-date=2018-12-31}} Information on the OCLC website about WorldCat.
* {{cite web |title=Bibliographic Formats and Standards |url=https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en.html |publisher=oclc.org |access-date=2018-12-31}}
* {{cite web |title=WorldCat Identities |url=https://www.worldcat.org/identities/ |publisher=worldcat.org |access-date=2018-12-31}}
 
{{Authority control}}
 
[[Category:Bibliographic databases and indexes]]
[[Category:Cooperatives]]
[[Category:Library catalogues]]
[[Category:OCLC]]

Revision as of 22:48, 8 March 2023

WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCLC member libraries collectively maintain WorldCat's database, the world's largest bibliographic database. The database includes other information sources in addition to member library collections. OCLC makes WorldCat itself available free to libraries, but the catalog is the foundation for other subscription OCLC services (such as resource sharing and collection management).

From Wikipedia

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