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WorldCat Entities
International union library catalog
WorldCat
Screenshot
WorldCat
homepage
as of June 2019
Type of site
Network of library content and services
Available in
13 languages
List of languages
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Czech
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Korean
Japanese
Portuguese
Spanish
Thai
Urdu
Owner
OCLC
URL
.worldcat
.org
Commercial
No
Registration
Optional, but some features require registration (such as writing reviews and making lists or bibliographies)
Launched
January 21, 1998
; 28 years ago
1998-01-21
(date of registry of the new
domain name
; the database has existed since 1971)
Current status
Online
Content license
Copyright policy
OCLC
number
756372754
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). WorldCat is used by librarians for cataloging and research and by the general public.
As of December 2021
[update]
, WorldCat contained over 540 million bibliographic records in 483 languages, representing over 3 billion physical and digital library assets,
and the WorldCat persons dataset (
mined
from WorldCat) included over 100 million people.
History
edit
OCLC
was founded in 1967 under the leadership of
Fred Kilgour
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.
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.
10
11
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.
12
WikiD was later phased out, although WorldCat later incorporated
user-generated content
in other ways.
13
14
In 2006, it became possible for anyone to search WorldCat directly at its open website WorldCat.org,
15
not only through the subscription FirstSearch interface where it had been available on the web to subscribing libraries for more than a decade before.
16
Options for more sophisticated searches of WorldCat have remained available through the FirstSearch interface.
15
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.
17
In 2017, OCLC's WorldCat Search
API
was integrated into the cite tool of Wikipedia's
VisualEditor
, allowing Wikipedia editors to cite sources from WorldCat easily.
18
19
Beginning in 2017, OCLC and the
Internet Archive
have collaborated to make the Internet Archive's records of digitized books available in WorldCat.
20
In May 2022, OCLC announced WorldCat Entities, a new infrastructure for
library linked data
21
22
Maintenance of WorldCat Identities was suspended and the service will be discontinued as it is being replaced by WorldCat Entities.
23
In August 2022, OCLC launched a "redesigned and reimagined" WorldCat.org website with the stated goal "to offer greater accessibility to the collections".
24
The website now requires the use of
JavaScript
and is therefore no longer accessible for users of older web browsers or those that have
JavaScript disabled
for
security reasons
. The update also removed users' book reviews and replaced them with reviews from
Amazon
subsidiary
GoodReads
25
In 2023,
Anna's Archive
scraped
and began distributing the whole WorldCat database and was subsequently sued by OCLC in January 2024.
26
System architecture
edit
Local catalogs of many OCLC member libraries are intermittently synchronized with the WorldCat database.
27
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).
28
In a small percentage of libraries,
29
the local catalog is also run by OCLC using an
integrated library system
called WorldCat Discovery and WorldShare Management Services.
30
Library contributions to WorldCat are made via the Connexion computer program,
31
which was introduced in 2001; its predecessor, OCLC Passport, was phased out in May 2005.
32
Cataloging
librarians may also use the WorldShare Record Manager
33
or WorldCat Metadata API
34
for similar purposes.
35
See also
edit
Library Hub Discover
Faceted Application of Subject Terminology
(FAST)
List of academic databases and search engines
Open Library
References
edit
"Search for library items"
WorldCat
OCLC
Archived
from the original on September 22, 2007
. Retrieved
March 29,
2017
1998 is the date of registry of the WorldCat.org domain; see:
"WorldCat.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools"
WHOIS
Archived
from the original on June 20, 2019
. Retrieved
January 21,
2017
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:
"OCLC.org WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools"
WHOIS
Archived
from the original on June 26, 2019
. Retrieved
June 26,
2019
The 2012–2013 OCLC Annual Report noted that the number of "participating libraries (includes active and inactive symbols)" was 78,985:
2012–2013 OCLC Annual Report
(Report). p. 5.
OCLC
1226313226
. Retrieved
March 10,
2022
"Inside WorldCat"
. OCLC.
Archived
from the original on January 30, 2017
. Retrieved
June 19,
2021
Oswald, Godfrey (2017).
"Largest unified international library catalog"
Library world records
(3rd ed.). Jefferson, NC:
McFarland & Company
. p. 291.
ISBN
9781476667775
OCLC
959650095
"Content available through WorldCat Discovery"
(XLS)
. OCLC.
Archived
from the original on September 22, 2020
. Retrieved
September 22,
2020
"Data strategy [WorldCat]"
oclc.org
. Archived from
the original
on March 27, 2019
. Retrieved
February 11,
2018
Margalit Fox
(August 2, 2006).
"Frederick G. Kilgour, Innovative Librarian, Dies at 92"
The New York Times
Archived
from the original on April 25, 2009
. Retrieved
December 22,
2009
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.
"A brief history of WorldCat"
oclc.org
. February 10, 2015.
Archived
from the original on March 18, 2013
. Retrieved
February 13,
2014
O'Neill, Nancy (November–December 2004). "Open WorldCat Pilot: A User's Perspective".
Searcher
12
(10):
54–
60.
ISSN
1070-4795
OCLC
201889986
Quint, Barbara (October 27, 2003).
"OCLC project opens WorldCat records to Google"
infotoday.com
Information Today
Archived
from the original on April 11, 2015
. Retrieved
June 26,
2019
"WikiD"
. OCLC.
Archived
from the original on September 12, 2012
. Retrieved
March 5,
2015
Storey, Tom (September 2007).
"A WorldCat community: using WorldCat.org to build a social network of the world's library users"
(PDF)
NextSpace
(7). OCLC:
16–
17.
ISSN
1559-0011
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on August 8, 2019
. Retrieved
June 26,
2019
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.
Bertot, John Carlo; Berube, Katy; Devereaux, Peter; Dhakal, Kerry; Powers, Stephen; Ray, Jennie (April 2012). "Assessing the usability of WorldCat Local: findings and considerations".
The Library Quarterly
82
(2):
207–
221.
doi
10.1086/664588
JSTOR
10.1086/664588
S2CID
61287720
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...
Hane, Paula J. (July 17, 2006).
"OCLC to open WorldCat searching to the world"
infotoday.com
Information Today
Archived
from the original on May 10, 2020
. Retrieved
June 26,
2019
Prucha, Francis Paul (1994). "National online library catalogs".
Handbook for research in American history: a guide to bibliographies and other reference works
(2nd ed.). Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press
. pp.
25–27
ISBN
0803237014
OCLC
28018047
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.
Hickey, Thomas B. (April 15, 2007).
"WorldCat Identities: Another View of the Catalog"
(PDF)
NextSpace
(6). OCLC:
18–
19.
ISSN
1559-0011
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on October 17, 2015
. Retrieved
January 18,
2016
"OCLC and Wikipedia Library link citations to millions of library materials, expanding access to quality sources"
oclc.org
. OCLC. May 11, 2017. Archived from
the original
on December 9, 2017
. Retrieved
April 25,
2020
Orlowitz, Jake (May 11, 2017).
"You can now add automatically generated citations to millions of books on Wikipedia"
blog.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia Foundation
Archived
from the original on May 23, 2020
. Retrieved
April 25,
2020
Michalko, Jim (October 12, 2017).
"Syncing Catalogs with thousands of Libraries in 120 Countries through OCLC"
Internet Archive
Blogs
. Retrieved
July 18,
2020
Price, Gary (May 24, 2022).
"OCLC releases more than 150 million WorldCat Entities as the foundation of a linked data infrastructure"
InfoDocket
Archived
from the original on March 25, 2023
. Retrieved
March 25,
2023
"Find WorldCat Entities to improve resource discoverability through connections"
OCLC
Archived
from the original on May 24, 2022
. Retrieved
March 25,
2023
"WorldCat Identities"
OCLC
. March 9, 2023.
Archived
from the original on March 25, 2023
. Retrieved
March 15,
2023
The research prototype application is no longer supported or maintained ... We have taken the findings of the research effort and used them to start to build the WorldCat Entities data. These new Entities and their persistent URIs will serve as the foundation for future linked data services similar to those explored in the Identities Research work.
Price, Gary (August 24, 2022).
"OCLC Officially Announces the Launch of a 'Redesigned and Reimagined' WorldCat.org"
InfoDocket
Archived
from the original on August 29, 2022
. Retrieved
August 29,
2022
"Frequently Asked Questions"
. WorldCat.
Archived
from the original on August 29, 2022
. Retrieved
August 29,
2022
Van der Sar, Ernesto (February 7, 2024).
"Lawsuit Accuses Anna's Archive of Hacking WorldCat, Stealing 2.2 TB Data"
TorrentFreak
. Retrieved
March 17,
2024
"About data sync collections"
OCLC Support
. April 14, 2017.
Archived
from the original on June 18, 2021
. Retrieved
June 18,
2021
"What is WorldCat?"
worldcat.org
. Archived from
the original
on November 14, 2019
. Retrieved
February 13,
2015
Schonfeld, Roger C. (December 5, 2019).
"What are the larger implications of Ex Libris buying Innovative?"
Ithaka S+R
Archived
from the original on June 12, 2020
. Retrieved
April 25,
2020
OCLC's WorldShare cloud system has yet to achieve critical mass, amounting to 10% of the academic market (but only 4% of
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:
"Marketshare Report"
Library Technology Guides
Archived
from the original on July 28, 2021
. Retrieved
June 18,
2021
Breeding, Marshall (March 2014).
"OCLC announces WorldCat Discovery service"
Smart Libraries Newsletter
34
(3).
American Library Association
6–
7.
ISSN
1541-8820
Archived
from the original on June 18, 2021
. Retrieved
June 18,
2021
– via Library Technology Guides.
"Connexion – Features"
. OCLC.
Archived
from the original on June 24, 2021
. Retrieved
June 18,
2021
Dean, Becky (March 3, 2005).
"OCLC Authorities migration timeline"
bibco@listserv.loc.gov
(Mailing list). Archived from
the original
on August 19, 2019
. Retrieved
June 26,
2019
"WorldShare Record Manager: Record-at-a-time cataloging service"
www.oclc.org
. OCLC. April 2, 2021.
Archived
from the original on June 24, 2021
. Retrieved
June 18,
2021
"WorldCat Metadata API | OCLC Developer Network"
. OCLC.
Archived
from the original on June 5, 2021
. Retrieved
June 18,
2021
"OCLC cataloging application comparison"
. OCLC.
Archived
from the original on June 18, 2021
. Retrieved
June 18,
2021
Further reading
edit
Blackman, Cathy; Moore, Erica Rae; Seikel, Michele; Smith, Mandi (July 2014).
"WorldCat and SkyRiver: a comparison of record quantity and fullness"
Library Resources & Technical Services
58
(3):
178–
186.
doi
10.5860/lrts.58n3.178
Breeding, Marshall (May 2015). "Library services platforms: a maturing genre of products".
Library Technology Reports
51
(4):
1–
38.
doi
10.5860/ltr.51n4
Matthews, Joseph R. (July 2016).
"An environmental scan of OCLC alternatives: a management perspective"
Public Library Quarterly
35
(3):
175–
187.
doi
10.1080/01616846.2016.1210440
McKenzie, Elizabeth (January 2012).
OCLC changes its rules for use of records in WorldCat: library community pushback through blogs and cultures of resistance
(Technical report). Boston:
Suffolk University Law School
. Research paper 12-06.
What the OCLC online union catalog means to me: a collection of essays
. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC. 1997.
ISBN
1556532237
OCLC
37492023
Wilson, Kristen (August 2016). "The knowledge base at the center of the universe".
Library Technology Reports
52
(6):
1–
35.
doi
10.5860/ltr.52n6
"WorldCat data licensing"
(PDF)
. OCLC.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on December 31, 2018
. Retrieved
December 31,
2018
See also:
"Data licenses & attribution"
oclc.org
. January 14, 2017.
Archived
from the original on December 31, 2018
. Retrieved
December 31,
2018
Information about licensing of WorldCat records and some other OCLC data.
External links
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
WorldCat
Wikidata
has the properties:
OCLC number (P243)
(see
uses
WorldCat Entities ID (P10832)
(see
uses
Official website
"WorldCat"
. oclc.org
. Retrieved
December 31,
2018
Information on the OCLC website about WorldCat.
"Bibliographic Formats and Standards"
. oclc.org
. Retrieved
December 31,
2018
"WorldCat Identities"
. worldcat.org
. Retrieved
December 31,
2018
Authority control databases
International
VIAF
FAST
National
United States
Israel
Retrieved from "
Categories
Bibliographic databases and indexes
Cooperatives
Library catalogues
OCLC
Hidden categories:
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All Wikipedia articles written in American English
Use mdy dates from March 2017
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All articles containing potentially dated statements
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