WorldCat is now available free online
From OCLC's WorldCat.
Announcing the release of the new WorldCat.org
Web site.
This site---and a downloadable WorldCat search box you can easily add to your Web site---opens the complete WorldCat database to the public, not just the smaller data subsets utilized by Open WorldCat partner sites such as Google, Yahoo! Search and others. WorldCat.org builds on the success of OCLC's Open WorldCat Program that has elevated the visibility of library materials on the open Web since the summer of 2003.
The main attraction of the new site is the WorldCat search box. Web users can now search the entire WorldCat database with the method most familiar to them: simple keywords. As in Open WorldCat, each linked result leads to a "Find in a Library" information page. From there, users can enter geographic information such as a zip or postal code, receive a list of nearby libraries that own the item, and link right to a library's online catalog record to initiate circulation activity or access electronic content directly. Users can also create their own WorldCat account and add book reviews, table-of-contents information and notes to many WorldCat items, helping to personalize their library search experience.
From WorldCat.org, any Web user or organization can also easily download and install the free, WorldCat search box to their personal or commercial Web page, allowing even more people to discover library content through WorldCat. Libraries and other groups inside and outside the OCLC cooperative are encouraged to add the box to their sites. We believe that sharing the ability to search for library materials to as many other sites as possible will help increase the awareness of libraries as primary sources of reliable information and helpful personal assistance.
To try the new WorldCat search box and download the box to your own Website, visit the site at http://worldcat.org
posted by amy b @ 8:59 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
This is a very exciting service now offered by OCLC. Unfortunately for us, OCLC requires a subcription to the WorldCat database on their FirstSearch service in order to be listed with Worldcat on the web. This means that even though we may have some holdings listed in OCLC for a record, the find a library feature won't locate CCPL. The reason for this according to OCLC is as follows:
"OCLC is including Open WorldCat as another benefit of subscription access to WorldCat on FirstSearch for OCLC cataloging members. There is no separate fee for visibility through Open WorldCat's Find in a Library interface. The Open WorldCat program has been developed by OCLC to increase the visibility of libraries on the open Web, and obviously there are costs associated with building and maintaining the many systems that deliver this capability. Just as subscription access helps libraries with cost control and planning, aligning the Open WorldCat program benefit with subscription access to WorldCat on FirstSearch helps ensure a revenue level for OCLC sufficient to maintain and improve the Open WorldCat program over time."
Maybe down the road we will be able to join this service, but for the time being we are on the outside looking in.
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