DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 23 June 2005—PC Magazine named OCLC's Open WorldCat to its Top 100 Sites list, and The Charleston Advisor called Open WorldCat the Best End-User Product "for making key WorldCat entries available through major search engines such as Google and Yahoo!" Over the past several months, OCLC has added more features and enhancements that are making it easy for Web searchers to find and get the information they need from library collections through their favorite Web search sites.
The OCLC Open WorldCat program makes records of library-owned materials in WorldCat, the world's richest database of such items, visible and accessible to Web users through popular Internet search sitesâ€"delivering library services and collections to users at the point of need.
"As we move forward, we have to be thinking about the library in the user environment rather than the user in the library environment," said Phyllis B. Spies, Vice President, OCLC Collection Services. "No matter how rich the library collection or how good the catalog interface, they may go unseen simply because users spend most of their time elsewhere "on the Web."
The newest feature available soon through the Open WorldCat program will enable users in the United States to buy books online that they find using Open WorldCat through Baker & Taylor, a global information and entertainment services company that offers books, videos, music, games and services to libraries. OCLC will pursue the best prices and discounts available for consumers, who will identify their library as part of the transaction. A portion of the proceeds from the book sales will be shared with the named libraries through credits on their OCLC invoices. OCLC hopes to expand this feature to libraries outside the United States, to other content formats and to additional vendors in the future.
Other recent features added to Open WorldCat include:
- Ask a Librarian pilot in Open WorldCat, a pilot project within the Open WorldCat program that allows Web searchers to submit questions to librarians through online reference services of OCLC member libraries.
- Tools to help searchers more conveniently search for library materials from their desktops, such as:
- Yahoo! Toolbar. This special edition on the Yahoo! Toolbar provides always-there access to Open WorldCat records via Yahoo! Search, plus the full complement of Yahoo! services.
- Google Toolbar with Autolink feature. The newest version of Google Toolbar enables always-there access to Open WorldCat records through its Autolink feature. Autolink detects the presence of specific kinds of information on the current Web page and by pressing the Autolink button on the Toolbar links to related or lookup information for that item.
- Firefox search extensions. Add WorldCat searching to the Search Bar of the popular open-source Web browser Firefox. From an ever-present browser pane, users can enter search terms and select the search engine to be queried.
- Deep linking enables end users of Open WorldCat to link from their search results in Yahoo!, Google or other partner sites to the Find in a Library interface, and then directly to the item's record in the nearest library's online catalog. Deep linking represents the last link in the Open WorldCat chain, getting Web users outside the library environment from their broad Internet search all the way to the initiation of circulation activity at the holding institution.
More information about the Open WorldCat program can be found at http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/default.htm
About OCLC
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing and preservation services to 52,000 libraries in 96 countries and territories. For more information, visit
About Baker & Taylor, Inc.
Baker & Taylor, Inc.
Based in Charlotte, N.C., the company has been in existence for over 177 years, developing long-term relationships with over 30,000 suppliers, including book publishers, movie studios, game producers, and music labels. Baker & Taylor maintains the largest combined in-stock book, video and music inventory in the United States, and serves the broadest customer base in the industry.
Baker & Taylor is owned by Willis Stein & Partners, a leading private equity investment firm specializing in investments in profitable, well-managed, and growing businesses targeting the consumer products and services, media, business services, manufacturing, and health care industries.