WorldCat: connecting people to libraries

WorldCat data—contributed by thousands of member libraries from around the world—is the foundation for a variety of interconnected services. Working together, they help libraries save money, increase efficiency, and better serve their communities.

Cataloging and Metadata

Member contributions to WorldCat provide the first step towards making materials more visible and useful on the Web. Connexion and CatExpress provide many options and features for busy catalogers. OCLC Batchload updates large volumes of records at a time. Physical materials from vendors in the WorldCat Cataloging Partners program come with MARC records attached, as do content packages in our WorldCat Collection Sets.

Content and Collections

OCLC members can also strengthen their collections with content offered directly by OCLC. You automatically get MARC records and WorldCat holdings set for titles in the CAMIO database of art-museum images. And all materials are easily searched from WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local.

Discovery and Reference

WorldCat encourages discovery both within your walls and across the Internet. The FirstSearch reference service helps onsite and authenticated remote users to find resources in your library first. A subscription to WorldCat on FirstSearch now comes with the WorldCat Local "quick start" service, delivering local and global resources in a single search.
Information seekers on the Web who visit Google, Yahoo! and other popular sites can discover items in your collection through search-result links to WorldCat.org, where they identify their location, select your library and are redirected to the item record in your OPAC. The OCLC-hosted solutions WorldCat Local and WorldCat Local "quick start" provide a customized, single search that connects people to all your materials—print, digital and electronic—and to the library delivery services that get them what they need.

Resource Sharing and Delivery

Find resource options within your consortia, geographic region and beyond with WorldCat Resource Sharing. User self-service, request filtering and automated fulfillment further boost efficiency and get materials into patrons’ hands fast.

Digital Collection Management

Catalog and share digitized items with the world. WorldCat helps you showcase digital collections created with CONTENTdm software or born-digital documents and digital originals preserved in OCLC's Digital Archive. Additionally, contribute metadata records for digital content to WorldCat from any OAI-compliant repository using the WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway.

Management Services and Systems

OCLC OCLC WorldShare Management Services offer a next-generation choice for traditional, back-office operations. Moving these functions to the Web alongside cataloging and discovery activities allows your library to lower costs, automate critical functions, enable cooperative intelligence and free resources for high-priority services. Automate a key component of your acquisition workflow with WorldCat Selection. View records and order items from a variety of materials vendors all in one interface. Make the most of your acquisitions budget using WorldCat Collection Analysis, which compares your collection to peer libraries or others in your group that have contributed records to WorldCat.

Web and Data Services

The free WorldCat Registry lets your institution maintain a single, up-to-date institutional profile of commonly referenced data (including street addresses, key contacts, identifying symbols/codes, OpenURL and other electronic-service URLs) that is easily shared with and referenced by vendors, consortium members, funding bodies and other stakeholders. Profile data also drives linking to local content and services in WorldCat.org as well as the OpenURL Gateway resolving service.
WorldCat data is also available to qualifying institutions to be re-used in mash-ups and other open source environment-type activities. The WorldCat Search API provides access to a FRBR-ized set of WorldCat bibliographic records and holdings. Web services such as xISBN and xISSN allow a Web site to query WorldCat and receive related editions of a book, or all variant, predecessor, or successor editions of a serial.

Custom Group Solutions

Any type of library group—from small cooperatives to statewide, multi-type consortia—can utilize OCLC’s Group Services to build their own all-in-one, unlimited-use WorldCat solution from many of the services mentioned above.

Note: The availability of these and other OCLC services varies by global region. To view services appropriate to your location, visit the Products and Services page and use the “Change” link below the OCLC logo to select your region.