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April 11, 2005 Vol 8 no 15

Share your collection with the world through Open WorldCat

A new benefit of OCLC membership: Internet searchers everywhere find your library and the things you own

Since 2004, Web searchers have been able to discover the rich resources of libraries with holdings in OCLC’s WorldCat bibliographic database through OCLC’s Open WorldCat program. This program enables Web searchers to link to library collections from the Web sites where they start searching, such as Yahoo! Search and Google.

You can keep your library’s collection “open” to these Web searchers after June 30, 2005 by maintaining a subscription to the WorldCat database on the OCLC FirstSearch service and contributing holdings to WorldCat via cataloging or other OCLC services.

More information and to order online


Poll: Most Americans unfamiliar with blogs

Though use of the Internet has become pervasive among Americans, a new CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll finds that few computer users are tuned in to the blog phenomenon. More than three-quarters of Americans—76 percent—said they use the Internet, but only 26 percent said they were “very familiar” or “somewhat familiar” with blogs. Just 7 percent of adults said they read blogs at least a few times per week. Forty-eight percent said they never do.

View article


Passport cataloging migration date extended to June 5

Resource sharing migration date remains May 1

OCLC has extended the May 1 migration date for Passport cataloging and CatME NACO users to June 5 to allow more time for preparation. The Passport resource sharing migration date will remain May 1 because that system is under a different set of migration constraints than those affecting cataloging. Local holdings maintenance remains in Passport for Union Listing until later this year.

Although the extension allows an additional five weeks for Passport cataloging and CatME NACO users to migrate to Connexion, OCLC highly recommends that users make the move as soon as possible to avoid a last-minute rush.

More information about OCLC migration

OCLC welcomes these new member libraries

British Columbia Institute of Technology
Location: Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
OCLC Symbol: CN8BJ
OCLC Network: OCLC Canada

Maroa-Forsyth Middle School
Location: Maroa, Illinois, USA
OCLC Symbol: ILMFM
OCLC Network: ILLINET

Riyadh Al Kharj Hospital Medical Library
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
OCLC Symbol: MERAH
OCLC Network: OCLC Middle East and Northern Africa

Membership guidelines and protocols


WorldCat update

WorldCat is the world’s most comprehensive bibliographic database. Updated at a rate of nearly one new record every 10 seconds, WorldCat contains more than 58 million bibliographic records and holdings information contributed by more than 8,500 libraries around the world. The new Open WorldCat program makes the items in library collections—physical and digital, popular or special—discoverable by people searching the Internet.

See the latest WorldCat record

 

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