World Libraries: The British Library adds 12 Million Records to WorldCat

OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) has announced that the British Library has added 12 million bibliographic records to WorldCat, the world's largest online resource for finding library materials. OCLC staff worked closely with British Library staff to add the records over a four-month project. As a result of the cooperative effort, OCLC and the British Library have enhanced the process to add these valuable records to WorldCat for the benefit of researchers worldwide.

Prior to this latest data load, some 4.5 million British Library records had been added to WorldCat over the last 25 years. Not only has this volume now effectively tripled, but the quality and accuracy of the records has been significantly enhanced. Ongoing automated batch loads will further improve the quantity and quality of British Library records in WorldCat.

Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing library costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 171 countries have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalogue, lend, preserve and manage library materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they need it. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the world’s largest online database for discovery of library resources.

WorldCat is a database of bibliographic information built continuously by OCLC libraries around the world since 1971. Each record in the WorldCat database contains a bibliographic description of a single item or work and a list of institutions that hold the item. The institutions share these records, using them to create local catalogs, arrange interlibrary loans and conduct reference work. Libraries contribute records for items not found in WorldCat using the OCLC shared cataloging system. Since 1971, 200 million records have been added to WorldCat, spanning more than 6,000 years of recorded knowledge, from about 4800 B.C. to the present. This unique store of information encompasses records in a variety of formats—books, e-books, serials, sound recordings, musical scores, maps, visual materials, mixed materials and computer files. Once records have been added to WorldCat, they are discoverable on the Web through popular search and partner sites, and through  www.worldcat.org.

The OCLC cooperative has a long tradition of working with national libraries around the world to facilitate shared cataloging, record exchange, digitization, resource sharing and document delivery.