Archive for November, 2008
MacArthur Foundation-funded project intended to increase credibility of Web search results
Researchers and developers from OCLC and the information schools of Syracuse University and the University of Washington have announced their participation in a new international effort to explore the creation of a more credible Web search experience based on input from librarians around the globe. Called the “Reference Extract,” the project is funded through a $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Reference Extract is envisioned as a Web search experience similar to those provided by the world’s most popular search engines. However, unlike other search engines, Reference Extract will be built for maximum credibility of search results by relying on the expertise of librarians. Users will enter search terms and receive results weighted toward sites most often used by librarians at institutions such as the Library of Congress, the University of Washington, the State Library of Maryland and more than 2,000 other libraries worldwide.
View news release ››
November 18th, 2008
Delegates continue plan to move to Global, Regional Councils to extend participation to more libraries and cultural heritage institutions worldwide
OCLC Members Council met in Dublin, Ohio, October 19-21, to discuss similarities and differences in libraries around the world, continue planning a transition to a Global Council and Regional Councils to extend OCLC participation, and elect a council delegate to the OCLC Board of Trustees.
Under the direction of Members Council President Loretta Parham, Library Director and CEO, The Atlanta University Center, delegates also heard reports from OCLC senior management and staff and discussed the worldwide library cooperative’s plans and activities.
Kathleen Imhoff, Executive Director and CEO, Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library, was elected by Members Council to serve on the OCLC Board of Trustees. Ms. Imhoff, a public librarian, will serve a term of five years. She has advocated for the formation of global library networks, and has considerable budgeting, contracting, project management, collaboration and strategic planning experience.
Larry Alford, Chair, OCLC Board of Trustees, and Dean of University Libraries, Temple University, provided an overview of the board’s responsibilities. He said the OCLC Board of Trustees ensures that OCLC stays true to its public purpose of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing costs; ensures that OCLC is a financially secure, business-like collaborative; and ensures “that we pass a strong, stable, relevant collaborative to the next generation.”
View report ››
November 18th, 2008
The OCLC eSerials Holdings service now offers a MARC record update option available on a subscription basis. Each month, this optional service will automatically deliver updated MARC bibliographic records representing the holdings set in WorldCat, automatically synchronizing a library’s online public access catalog with WorldCat.
The eSerials Holdings service automates the process of setting and maintaining holdings for ISSN-based electronic serials in WorldCat without adding to a library’s cataloging workload. It provides up-to-date serials holdings for users and a simple, efficient workflow for staff with higher fill rates and faster turnaround times for interlibrary loan and document delivery. The service debuted in July 2006 and uses the OCLC knowledgebase of eSerials to keep WorldCat informed of full text available electronically via aggregated databases and individual eJournals.
Nearly 400 libraries are enrolled in the service, which TDNet, EBSCO, WorldCat Link Manager and Serials Solutions also offer to their clients. To date libraries and vendors have added more than 4.5 million library holdings for electronic journals.
Learn out more about the eSerials Holdings service ››
November 3rd, 2008
By clicking the Questia Read tab in WorldCat.org, users will be able to access the table of contents; preview the first 20 pages of a book and the first page of each chapter; and read available publisher descriptions for each of the more than 67,000 books in the Questia.com online library collection. Online access to the complete work is available through a subscription account. More than 5,000 eBooks are available free of charge.
By linking records in WorldCat.org to Questia eBooks, authenticated Questia users can view the location of the nearest library holding a physical copy of the virtual book they find in Questia.
The Questia online library focuses on books supporting academic research in the humanities and social sciences and contains high-quality previously published digital content from more than 260 renowned university and commercial presses.
Learn more about WorldCat.org ››
November 3rd, 2008
Subtitled “Collaboration Among Libraries, Archives and Museums,” the report highlights lessons learned from five library, archive and museum workshops held at RLG partner institutions in the U.S. and the U.K., and contains information about inspiring collaborative projects in campus environments. The bulk of the report, which is authored by Diane Zorich, Günter Waibel and Ricky Erway, is dedicated to the catalysts that allow collaboration to thrive.
View report ››
November 3rd, 2008
OCLC conducted two Web-based surveys to measure the demand for non-English materials in small- to medium-sized academic libraries, community college libraries and school libraries, as well as public libraries. One of the key findings was that non-English speaking populations are growing, but library space and budget for these materials is staying the same. Another finding of both surveys was the need to expand the OCLC Language Sets service to include German and French materials, bringing the total number of languages available to 17: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Panjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Telugu, Urdu and Vietnamese.
Language Sets allow English-speaking librarians to build multilingual collections. OCLC language experts select, acquire and catalog best-selling and award-winning non-English materials, and set your holdings in WorldCat. With optional physical processing, materials can arrive ready to shelve.
(Other languages in addition to the 17 listed may be available through custom collections, a purchase option where OCLC staff acquire materials based on your library’s specific collection development criteria. MARC cataloging and optional physical processing are also available with this service.)
View Language Sets options ››
View a pre-recorded Web session that covers the results of the public libraries study ››
View Library Journal article on how libraries build non-English collections ››
November 3rd, 2008
An experimental iPhone interface to WorldCat is now available on the Apple Web applications page. The new WorldCat application lets you find what you want in a library near you on your iPhone or iPod touch.
View page ››
November 3rd, 2008
OCLC and Bibliothèque nationale de France have signed a letter of intent to work cooperatively to add records from the French national library to OCLC’s WorldCat, the world’s largest online resource for finding information in libraries. Once an agreement is finalized, OCLC anticipates processing an estimated 13.2 million bibliographic records from Bibliothèque nationale de France.
“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 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.
View news release ››
November 3rd, 2008
