DUBLIN, Ohio, June 12, 2009. OCLC and the Bibliothèque nationale de France signed an agreement today to work cooperatively to add records from the French national library to OCLC WorldCat, the world’s largest online resource for finding information in libraries.
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) and OCLC signed the agreement in Paris today, setting in motion plans for OCLC to process an estimated 13.2 million bibliographic records from the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Once records are added to WorldCat, they will be more visible and accessible to Web users worldwide through WorldCat.org, the destination for search and discovery of library materials on the Web.
"OCLC looks forward to strengthening its relationship with the Bibliothèque nationale de France," said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. "These valuable records from the Bibliothèque nationale de France will further enrich WorldCat, and will increase the visibility of the unique resources held by the French national library."
"The Bibliothèque nationale de France is willing to increase the audience of its cultural heritage materials. We are convinced that the contribution of our entire bibliographic catalogue to WorldCat is likely to enhance the value of the library collections," said Bruno Racine, President of BnF. "The bibliographic data of the BnF catalogue, one of the richest catalogues in the world, will be of great benefit to OCLC users."
OCLC and the Bibliothèque nationale de France have worked together on other projects, such as the cooperative effort to create the Virtual International Authority File (Fichier d'Autorité International Virtuel), which virtually combines multiple name authority files into a single name authority service, and French translations of the Dewey Decimal Classification system.
Overall, 34 national libraries have begun adding digital images, national files and bibliographies to WorldCat by both batchloading and online contribution. WorldCat is now growing even faster than last year, when libraries set a new high by adding 22.2 million records. At the start of the 2009 fiscal year, there were 108 million records in WorldCat. With two weeks yet to go in fiscal 2009, libraries have already added more than 29 million records.
More information, a complete list and world map illustrating OCLC’s work with national libraries can be found at www.oclc.org/us/en/worldcat/catalog/national.
About the Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France is keeper of five centuries of cultural heritage. The BnF collects, catalogs, preserves and enriches this national heritage via legal deposit and acquisitions, in particular the French language and the French civilisation heritage, in all fields of knowledge. The BnF acquires all kinds of materials: books, manuscripts, engravings, photographs, maps, medals, coins, scores, audiovisuals and software. The BnF enhances the value its collections and makes them known, in particular by arranging exhibitions, conferences and by publishing books. The BnF is also monitoring a national network of cooperation among libraries and runs an international collaborative and exchange policy. The BnF is developing projects that extend its influence, such as the expansion of the Digital library Gallica and the mass digitization of its collections. For more information, visit the BnF Web site www.bnf.fr.
About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation, library management and Web services to 71,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world’s richest online resource for finding library materials. Search WorldCat.org on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.
