WorldCat

WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of Library of Congress, National Library of Australia, British Library, and other national libraries and universities worldwide, including Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of Oxford. It is operated by OCLC, a non-profit organization that provides services to libraries, museums, and archives, such as the National Archives and Records Administration and the Smithsonian Institution. WorldCat contains more than 400 million bibliographic records, including books, journals, newspapers, magazines, and other materials held by libraries such as the New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, and Los Angeles Public Library. The catalog also includes records from Google Books, Internet Archive, and other digital libraries, like the Digital Public Library of America and Europeana.

Introduction

WorldCat is used by librarians, researchers, and the general public to locate materials in libraries around the world, including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, National Diet Library, and Russian State Library. The catalog provides a comprehensive and authoritative source of bibliographic information, with records contributed by libraries such as the University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, and Columbia University. WorldCat also provides links to online catalogs of participating libraries, such as the Library of Congress Online Catalog and the British Library Catalogue. Additionally, WorldCat is used by booksellers, publishers, and other organizations, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google.

History

The concept of a union catalog dates back to the 19th century, when librarians such as Melvil Dewey and Charles Cutter proposed the idea of a comprehensive catalog of library holdings. The first union catalog was created in the 1960s by OCLC, which was founded by Ohio University, Ohio State University, and other universities in Ohio. The first version of WorldCat was launched in 1971, and it has since grown to become one of the largest and most comprehensive union catalogs in the world, with contributions from libraries such as the National Library of China, National Library of India, and National Library of Japan. WorldCat has also been influenced by other library catalogs, such as the Catalog of the Library of the British Museum and the Catalog of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Features

WorldCat provides a range of features that make it a powerful tool for researchers and librarians, including University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, and University of Manchester. The catalog allows users to search for materials by author, title, subject, and other criteria, and it provides links to full-text versions of materials when available, through services such as JSTOR, Project MUSE, and EBSCO. WorldCat also includes features such as authority control, which helps to ensure the accuracy and consistency of bibliographic records, and linked data, which allows users to explore relationships between different materials and authors, such as William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens. Additionally, WorldCat provides tools for librarians to manage their collections and provide services to their users, including interlibrary loan and document delivery, through services such as OCLC WorldShare and Ex Libris Alma.

Organization

WorldCat is operated by OCLC, which is a non-profit organization that provides services to libraries, museums, and archives, including the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Library of Congress. OCLC is governed by a board of trustees that includes librarians and other information professionals from around the world, such as American Library Association, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and Association of Research Libraries. The organization is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, and it has offices in Europe, Asia, and other regions, including OCLC Europe, OCLC Asia Pacific, and OCLC Latin America and the Caribbean. WorldCat is also supported by a network of regional service providers that provide training and support to librarians and other users, including OCLC Canada, OCLC Australia, and OCLC United Kingdom.

Uses

WorldCat is used by a wide range of users, including researchers, students, and the general public, who may be affiliated with universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, and Carnegie Mellon University. The catalog is particularly useful for interlibrary loan and document delivery, as it allows users to locate materials that are not available in their local library, such as the New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, and San Francisco Public Library. WorldCat is also used by librarians to manage their collections and provide services to their users, including collection development and cataloging, through services such as OCLC WorldCat Discovery and Ex Libris Primo. Additionally, WorldCat is used by booksellers and publishers to locate materials and manage their inventory, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google Books.

Data

WorldCat contains a vast amount of bibliographic data, including records for books, journals, newspapers, and other materials, contributed by libraries such as the National Library of Medicine, Library of Congress, and British Library. The catalog also includes data on authors, publishers, and other entities related to the materials, such as Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, and HarperCollins. The data in WorldCat is contributed by libraries and other organizations from around the world, including the National Library of Australia, National Library of Canada, and National Library of New Zealand. The catalog is updated regularly to reflect changes in library collections and to add new materials, through services such as OCLC WorldCat Metadata and Ex Libris Alma. WorldCat data is also used by other library catalogs and discovery systems, such as Summon, EBSCO Discovery Service, and Primo, to provide a comprehensive and authoritative source of bibliographic information. Category:Library catalogs