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August 20, 2007
My library launches WorldCat Local
Today marks the official launch date of our consortium's beta test of WorldCat Local, the new web catalog option from OCLC. Here is the simple search box, and here is our altered homepage (that links to the new WorldCat Local interface).
I previously blogged about our initial entry into the beta pilot group. I also blogged about the University of Washington Libraries installation when it launched, as I was quite intersted to see what they had going on, since we'd be next in line to be up and running. But now it's up, it's real. Now there are two beta projects up: both university library system and a public library consortium.
There are feedback forms for our users, and other behind-the-scenes ways for staff to communicate our own feedback. After our two-month beta test, we'll discuss all the feedback received and decide if we want to continue with the service. I'll be back in two months and let you all know what happened...
August 20, 2007 | Permalink
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I'm not sure if we'll get our database subscriptions in there in time. I'm not sure why that wasn't done immediately, as it was for UW. One problem is that our shared catalog is our own 12-branch library combined with several other independent city libraries, some of whom have branches too. As independent entities, we don't all own the same online resources. We have a small set of shared resources, most of our eBooks and a number of Gale products like InfoTrac OneFile. We could at least get our shared database content in there, though. WorldCat Local does also contain article-level citation records from four FirstSearch base package databases: GPO, ArticleFirst, Medline and ERIC. The problem for us is that we don't own any of those databasese. We are smaller public libraries. So, on the records for those articles, the link to get the article takes users to the consortium's database page. This choice is rife with problems, such as the fact that 1) WE DON'T OWN THESE DATABASES (sigh) and 2) How are users supposed to know what the heck to do when they get dumped on this page? and 3) This page does not list all of the independent jurisdiction databases, just our shared ones (about half of what we own). That aspect of the installation is a huge challenge. WorldCat does not seem to be designed for, or able to deal well with, libraries with multiple geographically disparate locations and jurisdictions, or the online resource licensing issues that come along with that. That is one improvement that I think would be necessary for this product to be successful for public libraries.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton-Jan (LiB) | August22, 2007
Any plans to add your database subscriptions? U of W had them, but I was hoping to see them in action at a public library consortium. (Or is that why they're not there -- because they're not a fully shared resource?)
Posted by: Sarah | August22, 2007
