The Online Computer Library Center's Open WorldCat program.

ABSTRACT

This article describes the Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC) Open WorldCat program. WorldCat is a worldwide union catalog created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 member institutions. Open WorldCat seeks to make library collections and services visible and available through popular search engines such as Yahoo! and Google and other heavily used sites on the open Web. In this capacity, Open WorldCat provides an important central connection between the shared information of the library network and the Web. The article describes the history and rationale of the project; explains how Open WorldCat works for information seekers, participating libraries, and partners; and reports on what OCLC has learned from the program to date.

INTRODUCTION

Today's Web users expect information at their fingertips, regardless of where they are searching. Libraries can meet this expectation only by reaching further into the network of information resources that their patrons use and delivering content and services to users at the point of need. Satisfying patron expectations means reaching beyond the library portal and into the commercial search engines, vertical information portals, and e-commerce sites that have become such an integral part of patron workflow.

The Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC) Open WorldCat program is one approach to integrating access to library collections and services into the "flows" of Web users. WorldCat is a worldwide union catalog created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 member institutions. With more than 60 million online records representing almost 1 billion items held by member institutions, it is the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind. Open WorldCat seeks to make library collections and services visible and available through popular search engines such as Yahoo! and Google and other heavily used sites on the open Web. In this capacity, Open WorldCat provides an important central connection between the shared information of the library network and the Web.

Through Open WorldCat, OCLC partners with search engines and other Web sites to link from their search results to a "find in a library" service managed by OCLC and powered by the WorldCat database. The "find in a library" service provides the user with a list of nearby libraries with holdings in WorldCat. OCLC also manages a registry of Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) links for its member libraries, which are used to take the user to the record describing the item of interest in the OPAC of choice. A number of other services are available from the Open WorldCat interface, including such IP authenticated services as access to link resolvers, virtual reference services, e-books, and other digital licensed content. This article describes the Open WorldCat program, including the project history and rationale; how it works for users, libraries, and partners; results to date; lessons learned; and future plans.

PROJECT HISTORY

The genesis of Open WorldCat was OCLC's 2000 strategic plan, "Extending the OCLC Cooperative," which charted a course for the evolution of WorldCat into a "globally networked, and globally available information resource" (OCLC, 2000, p. 12). The plan, developed by OCLC leadership and staff in 1999 and vetted extensively by OCLC's board members, had as one of its key tenets the notion of "weaving libraries into the web" by making WorldCat openly accessible "in many versions from many paths: through individual library portals.... And through information partner portals (e.g., through database aggregators, Web search engines, and Web portals)" (OCLC, 2000, p. 12). The report elaborates on the concept of open access to WorldCat: "Information partners, including database aggregators, Web search engines, and Web portals, will use Extended WorldCat Discovery and Navigation services as an ingredient to build enriched access to information. With this cooperation, libraries will have a method to include library collections in the mix of Web pages and commercial content offered to library users" (OCLC, 2000, p. 28). This quote encapsulates two key drivers of the Open WorldCat project. The first was the notion of broadening access to library collections by integrating them into the open Web resources most heavily used by information seekers, regardless of the provider (library, .org, commercial site). The second is the notion of tackling this effort through a cooperative approach, in which WorldCat is used as a directory and brokering service, or a "switch," that alerts the Web searcher to the availability of library materials and then connects the user to those materials.

RESEARCH

Following the publication of the strategic plan, OCLC undertook research in three areas to vet the concept of Open WorldCat: (1) research with potential users of the service, to test the value proposition of finding library collections and their location on the open Web; (2) research with OCLC member libraries, to test the value proposition of exposing their collections through popular search engines as a way of extending their reach; and (3) research with potential partners, to test the value proposition of enhancing their services by integrating metadata describing library collections and a service for connecting their users to local library catalogs and portals for service. This research took place in 2001 and the first half of 2002.

Research with Students

A key component of our research with potential users of the service focused on college students. We focused on these users because we knew that students were increasingly using Web search engines and other Web sites as a starting point for research assignments. We wanted to assess the value that these users might place on searching collections of nearby libraries as part of their broader Web searching. We commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey…