So, Can Google Use OCLC Records? Yes, But

Questions remain about the impact of WorldCat on Google's metadata

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 9/10/2009

• Google has access to WorldCat metadata
• Google says bad metadata comes from external providers
• No restrictions on which WorldCat metadata fields can be used

The discussion about Google’s many metadata errors raised by linguistics researcher Geoff Nunberg has now led to questions about Google’s relationship with OCLC and WorldCat records.

In a comment on Nunberg's Language Log post, Karen Coyle questioned whether Google was using library metadata that is part of the WorldCat database and/or whether restrictions on use of that metadata hampered Google. 

In a blog post, she went on to question whether Google Book Search had a contract with OCLC and whether it had any restrictions. 

OCLC’s response
Subsequently, Chip Nilges of OCLC posted a mailing list comment, writing: "We've made the entire WorldCat database (excluding certain metadata records that OCLC is contractually prohibited from providing) available to Google to support discovery of the books Google has digitized from library collections. In exchange, Google has agreed to display a link to libraries on pages describing library digitized materials."

Google’s response
LJ queried whether Google is using WorldCat data. Google metadata point man Jon Orwant responded, “Chip is correct. We get a nearly-full OCLC feed and it substantially improves the quality of our metadata. We've been using it for years and are happy with it. We also get individual library catalogs and commercial data feeds. We have over 100 metadata sources, and this is why we have so many errors: if you have only one source of truth, you never have any doubt.”

“When Google Books exposes errors in metadata, it is sometimes the result of errors in the feeds and catalogs, sometimes the result of varying cataloging practices (e.g., different libraries storing serials information in different places in the MARC record), and sometimes errors in how we adjudicate between conflicting metadata sources,” Orwant added, pointing out that bad metadata on Google Books “almost always comes from an external metadata provider.”

WorldCat a priority?
LJ followed up, asking whether Google considered using WorldCat as the default, thus presumably improving the data. 

Orwant hasn’t yet responded.

Questioning OCLC
Coyle was skeptical of OCLC's response, asking, “Are there restrictions on what MARC fields and subfields Google can include in its metadata?”

Nilges responded, "To answer Karen's most recent post, Google can use any WC metadata field. And it's important to note as well that our agreement with Google is not exclusive. We're happy to work with others in the same way. The goal, as I said in my original post, is to support the efforts of our members to bring their collections online, make them discoverable, and drive traffic to library services.”

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