View this and past issues on the Web at http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/design/abstracts/

OCLC releases international library research report

OCLC has found that information consumers view libraries as places to borrow print books, but they are unaware of the rich electronic content they can access through libraries.

The findings are part of Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, a report recently issued by OCLC. The new report, based on surveys of information users across six countries administered by Harris Interactive on behalf of OCLC, is a follow-up to The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition, the award-winning report that describes issues and trends that are impacting and will impact OCLC and libraries.

Among the findings of the Perceptions report:

Respondents use search engines to begin an information search (84 percent). One percent begin an information search on a library Web site.
Information consumers use the library but they use the library less and read less since they began using the Internet.
Borrowing print books is the library service used most; “Books” is the library brand.
Respondents do not trust purchased information more than free information.
Ninety percent of respondents are satisfied with their most recent search for information using a search engine.
Information consumers like self-serve. They use personal knowledge and common sense to judge if electronic information is trustworthy, and they cross-reference other sites to validate their findings.

View news release
View a PDF (4.4 MB) of the report

Internet use in the United States

A new United States Census Bureau report reveals that 40 percent of adults used the Internet to obtain news, weather or sports information in 2003, a sharp increase from only 7 percent six years earlier. More than half of adults used e-mail or instant messaging in 2003, compared to only 12 percent who did so in 1997. In 2003, 32 percent of adults purchased a product or service online, compared with only 2 percent of adults who shopped online in 1997.

View report

PAIS Archive completed

The PAIS Archive database on the OCLC FirstSearch service has been updated with a third and final installment. The PAIS Archive is a retrospective database chronicling global public policy and social issues from 1915-1976, and complements the contemporary social sciences coverage of the PAIS International database on FirstSearch.

Originally published as PAIS Bulletin, the PAIS Archive contains over 1 million records for periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications and other English-language materials published around the world. For more information about this database and others, visit http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/.

OCLC welcomes these new member libraries

Consumer Product Safety Commission
Location: Bethesda, Maryland, USA
OCLC Symbol: CPSCB
OCLC Network: FEDLINK

Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens
Location: Mount Vernon, Virginia, USA
OCLC Symbol: VAMVE
OCLC Network: SOLINET

Phoenix International School of Law
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
OCLC Symbol: PISOL
OCLC Network: Amigos

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 62 million bibliographic records and 1 billion holdings contributed by more than 9,000 libraries around the world. The 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

Subscribe/Unsubscribe | Questions/Comments

OCLC Abstracts uses the Internet to deliver timely information about OCLC services, programs, news and events directly to subscribers’ desktops. This e-journal augments and complements OCLC’s Web site and print communications.