A partnership between OCLC and Royal Defense Museums Foundation will reveal thousands of collections of great significance easily accessible through a WorldCat Group Catalogue, powered by Worldcat, the world's most comprehensive database of information about library collections.

Home to the largest military library in Europe, the Royal Defense Museums Foundation offers a window into the past, present and future developments of the Netherlands' armed forces. Their mission is to showcase the story of the military that can better inform the public's view of the armed forces. To realise this initiative, the Royal Defense Museums Foundation have partnered with the other military libraries such as the Netherlands Defense Academy, Marine Museum in Den Helder (KIM), Netherlands Institute of Military History (NIMH), and Bronbeek Museum, and this partnership may be expanded in the future to include other small military museums, historical and cultural collections. Worldcat also allows them to feature old, printed books, comprising 10,000 valuable publications in 12 languages from 1500-1800.

The contribution of over 877,000 records of military literature to WorldCat adds to the rapidly growing number of open content resources that are accessible through OCLC services.

"Making military heritage content openly available to as many people as possible can help shed light on the reciprocal influence of the armed forces on society from multiple perspectives and that has always been part of our vision," said Annet Ruseler, project leader of the digital platforms of the Royal Defense Museums Foundation. "We have always recognized the importance of such valuable treasures to be made visible to the public, and our partnership with OCLC means we can help make that happen."

"We're excited to work with the Royal Defense Museums Foundation to advance our shared goal of making such valuable resources visible and accessible to all," said Eric van Lubeek, OCLC Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA and APAC. ‘'Visitors of the Netherlands Military Museum Group Catalog can now quickly and easily access this significantly important information for our cultural heritage and history.'

The Royal Defense Museums Foundation (SKD, formerly KSD) was established on 1 July 2014 and is the umbrella organization of four Dutch defense museums: the National Military Museum (NMM) in Soest, the Naval Museum in Den Helder, the Marine Museum in Rotterdam and the Marechaussee Museum. In addition to the SKD museums, Defense also includes:

• More than 20 army museums and army collections, including: the Cavalry Museum at the Bernhard Barracks in Amersfoort, the Genie Museum in the former Camp Vught at the Van Brederode Barracks, and the Dutch Artillery Museum in 't Harde.
• The Tradition Chamber Submarine Service in the Den Helder Marine Base and the Tradition Chamber Naval Aviation Service at the Royal Netherlands Navy Air Base De Kooy, near Den Helder.
• The museum and knowledge center "Bronbeek" in Arnhem focused on the colonial period in the Dutch East Indies.