OCLC Launches WorldCat Registry

-- Library Journal, 3/5/2007

OCLC February 26 announced the debut of WorldCat Registry, "a comprehensive directory for libraries and consortia and the services they provide." The goal is to offer a single platform that helps these facilities "manage and share data that define their organizations," such as institution type, URLs for electronic services, circulation statistics, population served, consortia memberships, main and branch relationships, budget and service stats, administrative contacts, and more. OCLC contends that the registry also relieves libraries of the arduous administrative chore of keeping "multiple institutional identities up to date across different internal and third-party applications and through a variety of methods, including web interfaces, FAXes, and phone calls."