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Reference Services

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  • Reference Services
  • Dec 07 - Jan 08
  • Issue: 218

WorldCat.org Is Not Free

If you already know that it costs money to see your library’s holdings on WorldCat.org , you are free to skip to the next news item. If, however, you are one of many in the library profession who believe that WorldCat.org is free, please know that WorldCat.org is, alas, not free.

A library must meet both of the following two criteria for its holdings to be included in WorldCat.org:

  • A library must be a member of the OCLC WorldCat cataloging cooperative, meaning it contributes its cataloging records to OCLCWorldCat, the bibliographic database librarians have been building cooperatively for nearly 40 years;
  • A library must purchase an annual subscription to the WorldCat database on FirstSearch, the platform that provides end-user access to the WorldCat database (versus the cataloging, recordsentry view of the WorldCat database).

OCLC Reference and FirstSearch Contact Information

For more information about OCLC FirstSearch, please contact Nylink’s Joyce Rambo (ramboj@nylink.org) or Jennifer Hawkes (hawkesj@nylink.org).


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Page last updated: 1/24/2008

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