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WorldCat : 'Web scale' discovery and delivery
"Web scale" discovery and delivery of library resourcesOCLC, as a longtime advocate of the use of technology to make library collections more discoverable and manageable, has consistently investigated how people's relationships to information have evolved with the advent of the Web. Not surprisingly, the results have shown a preference for self-service on this global medium. The 2003 OCLC membership report "Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition" found that most people, when asked to draw an association, still think mainly of "books" rather than electronic content and services that are increasingly available. The followup report "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources" in 2005 determined users do not rely on Web-based library resources very often—nor do they particularly equate libraries with the Web. Our 2007 report on "Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World" found further that people did not perceive a role for libraries in the Web's newly "social" universe, where users promote themselves and share content within massive user communities. (Librarians largely agreed with that assessment.) Without a strategy, the Web's too bigThe issue is scale. Many libraries have set up individual Web presences. Taken together, however, these have not had the desired impact owing to the sheer size of the Web landscape and scarce tactics for enabling library-service links in the information environments where users congregate. A more unified, programmatic approach is necessary so that libraries can have an effective footprint. As a worldwide union catalog, WorldCat has helped its contributing libraries give patrons access to a much larger cooperative collection, achieving a scale that no single institution could reach by itself. Now, WorldCat is building an even more expansive Web scale that takes this behind-the-scenes content network and moves it outside the library environment into the all-digital lives of today's information seekers and creators. How large is this public? Consider that every day :
The Web has many tools for putting knowledge in front of these users, and many more that let them organize or add to a knowledge base. By using the tools strategically, WorldCat pervasively distributes data about—and opens new pathways into—the catalogs, services and reliable electronic content of its member institutions. Libraries are integrated into the wider Web experience, and a segment of this tremendous global traffic is captured and connected to them. WorldCat.org: A platform and program for Web exposureWorldCat.org is the focal point of OCLC's Web-scale strategy. Both a Web portal to the WorldCat catalog and a supporting program of data syndication that draws users from other popular Web destinations, it presents a common, relevant and compelling Web presence for libraries that promotes local content and value. Access to library materials on a highly useful, usable and universal platform Higher visibility on the most popular Web sites More traffic to your online services Seamless delivery of materials A potent toolset for discovery
A user-centric environment with social networking tools People can put WorldCat where they want it A system for managing and distributing institutional metadata |