Describing Libraries
In most transactions, it is of great importance to know not just what is being offered but who is doing the offering. In the library world, we often focus on resources to the near-exclusion of anything else. In many cases, this is a luxury afforded by the standards we use (such as MARC) and the culture of sharing that manifests itself in services such as consortial borrowing and inter-library loan.
In today's networks, more and more similar services are remote or diffused from their provider. The convenience of link resolution to utilize journal subscriptions from your library, the "Find in a Library" links in Google Book Search, and deep links from WorldCat.org into your local catalog all depend on a catalog of a different sort.
OCLC's WorldCat Registry [http://www.oclc.org/us/en/registry/default.htm] is a web-enabled registry listing libraries, the services they offer, and the addresses - both physical and digital - at which they are offered. It is more than a simple list, however - built-in Web services distribute Registry data across the Web, enhancing Web discovery.
The folks at WorldCat Registry have been busy recently creating teaching materials, including an informative YouTube video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEEQdoaHpxc]. These materials show the value that a comprehensive registry promises. The quality of the "catalog" or "registry" is dependent on its data, so the team is working hard to improve the efficiency of entering and managing the data, as well as improving its global coverage. We urge you to look at the WorldCat Registry project and make sure that your library is represented accurately.
In today's networks, more and more similar services are remote or diffused from their provider. The convenience of link resolution to utilize journal subscriptions from your library, the "Find in a Library" links in Google Book Search, and deep links from WorldCat.org into your local catalog all depend on a catalog of a different sort.
OCLC's WorldCat Registry [http://www.oclc.org/us/en/registry/default.htm] is a web-enabled registry listing libraries, the services they offer, and the addresses - both physical and digital - at which they are offered. It is more than a simple list, however - built-in Web services distribute Registry data across the Web, enhancing Web discovery.
The folks at WorldCat Registry have been busy recently creating teaching materials, including an informative YouTube video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEEQdoaHpxc]. These materials show the value that a comprehensive registry promises. The quality of the "catalog" or "registry" is dependent on its data, so the team is working hard to improve the efficiency of entering and managing the data, as well as improving its global coverage. We urge you to look at the WorldCat Registry project and make sure that your library is represented accurately.
