November 05, 2007
OCLC WorldCat.org, Open WorldCat Require FirstSearch Subscription
If you've been on top of the latest OCLC product and service offerings, you will have heard more and more about WorldCat.org and the Open WorldCat program. But you may not be aware of how these new services fit into, and interact with, the traditional FirstSearch WorldCat subscription. Does the fact that WorldCat.org and Open WorldCat are available for all Web users mean that a subscription to FirstSearch is no longer necessary?
Although WorldCat.org and the Open WorldCat program are available via the open Web, libraries must have holdings in WorldCat and an active WorldCat subscription on the FirstSearch interface in order for their holdings to display in WorldCat.org services. In other words, if your library has only "per search" access to FirstSearch, your item's ownership will not display in WorldCat.org.
Worldcat.org services do not affect traditional holdings display via Connexion, WorldCat Resource Sharing or FirstSearch. A library adding holdings to records in WorldCat using any approved method (such as OCLC Connexion, CatExpress or batch processing) will show its holdings for other Connexion, FirstSearch and WorldCat Resource sharing users.
For more information about WorldCat.org and Open WorldCat, visit www.oclc.org/worldcat/web/default.htm.
OCLC's comparison chart of WorldCat's public views is located at www.oclc.org/worldcat/introduction/comparison.htm.
