Lorcan Dempsey
Vice President of Research
OCLC, Inc.
Chip Nilges
Executive Director, WorldCat Content & Global Access
OCLC, Inc.
For many, Google and other search engines have become the first and last resort of research. If something is not found in Google it is ‘off-web’. This session will look at some of the issues involved in making library services more visible and ‘on-web’.
It will describe the OpenWorldCat initiative which aims to connect library users to library services on the open web. OCLC has run a pilot in which two million WorldCat records were exposed to Google and Yahoo. This pilot has been successful and we are now proceeding to expose the full database of 56 million records. The service allows users to find and request library materials. It also routes users to library services.
The presentation will also consider some broader issues about how to expose more rich library data and services through Google, Yahoo and other emerging services.
Going ‘On-Web’: Google, Yahoo, Open WorldCat and Library Services
(PowerPoint Presentation)