This is a slideshow from a group presentation I did that analyzed WorldCat in terms of its strengths and weaknesses for information retrieval.

1. WorldCat
Connecting the World’s
Libraries
Rynnel Fischer
Caitlin Horrall
Valerie MacMillan

2. WorldCat History
Founded in 1967 by OCLC
To create shared union catalogue
Launched in 1971
Libraries used pre-existing cataloguing records or created new
ones to be shared
Named WorldCat in 1996
Not-for-profit with membership fees

3. WorldCat on the Web
Online search at WorldCat.org launched in 2006
Moved from bibliographic database to globally networked
information resource
Includes:
books, ebooks, audio books
dvds, cds
articles, links to full text
games, images, maps
archival material

4. WorldCat Today
72,000 libraries 1.9 billion holdings
Includes 44 national libraries
(LAC and BANQ)
470 languages and dialects
A new record is created
from
every 10 seconds
170 countries

5. WorldCat Features
Opens local collections to the world
Integrates with Google and Yahoo
Supports multiple languages
Offers collection analysis
Provides some social web functions, e.g.
reviews / ratings
widgets and plugins for browsers, blogs, sites
personalized lists, profiles

6. WorldCat Resource Discovery
Search (localized by postal code or IP)
Relevancy ranking
Faceted refinement and subject links
Additional content (cover art, reviews, article references etc)
Explore author/creative principle associations via WorldCat
Identities
Obtain or export bibliographic citations
Read reviews from WorldCat, GoodReads, Amazon etc

7. WorldCat Indexing
Keywords
Folksonomies
Controlled vocabularies - mostly LCSH
“Terminologies Service” offers multiple thesauri free.
Vocabularies include:
LCSH
FAST
Thesaurus for graphic materials
Māori Subject Headings

8. WorldCat Research and Innovation
Developer Network
New technologies using WorldCat data like:
WorldCat Identities
WorldCat Genre
FictionFinder
Audience Level
Metadata Crosswalk

9. What’s next in WorldCat
Moving from providing access to data to selling services
Linked data – starting to offer some datasets
First step is sharing, next step could be online delivery and
circulation?

10. Initial Interface

11. Advanced Search Interface

12. Users are able to refine and customize searches

13. Example Bibliographic Record

14. WorldCat provides users with handy citation tools

15. WorldCat allows users to search and find items in local libraries and favoriting

16. Allows direct access to library OPACS

17. Subject Headings and user tags

18. More advanced searching capabilities

19. Search results . . . good, but not great

20. Identities search for “Paddington Bear”

21. Related Identities and Associated Subjects for Paddington Bear 2/2

22. WorldCat Genre – great access point for those interested in browsing a
specific genre of book or movie

23. Strengths
Responds to user needs for simplified searching
Encourages them to use it
 More emphasis on research in wider world of electronic
information
Link from Google Books to WorldCat to holdings of individual
libraries
 Good advanced search function (limit by type of material,
language, publication date, etc.)

24. Strengths (cont'd)

Facilitates ILL by making collections of other libraries accessible

Beneficial for collection analysis

Download list of titles to Excel

Facilitates creation of collection development policies

High standards for cataloguing

Extensive search results

But might also be considered weakness if people do not check
relevancy?

25. Weaknesses

Some librarians consider such systems to be obstacle for
acquiring information literacy skills

Relevancy of searches, ease of searching

Serials often not included

High standards for cataloguing but perhaps more flexibility
needed

Encompass records from many sources

Allow for creation of more records

Make better use of automation for updates

26. Suggestion

Tiered approach for standards (Turner, 2009, 275)

Basic rules for all records with more detailed rules being “best
practices”