OCLC Pilots WorldCat Local

By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 5/15/2007

A plethora of academic, public, and even high school libraries have kicked the tires of OCLC’s WorldCat. Dubbed WorldCat Local, the pilot program, according to OCLC, allows libraries to search the entire WorldCat catalog but present results “beginning with items most accessible to the patron,” e.g., the home library, local consortium collections, and open access collections. WorldCat Local includes all the current OCLC features—single search box, relevancy ranking of results, faceted browse capability, formatting options, cover art—and will include all future WorldCat enhancements.

Facilities participating in the pilot include the University of Washington, Peninsula Library System in California, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, plus Glenside Public Library District, CCS (Cooperative Computer Services) Consortium, Illinois State Museum, Illinois State Library, Hoopeston Public Library, Northeastern Illinois University, Mattoon Public Library, Champaign Central High School, and Williamsville Senior High School, all in Illinois.