Paula Hane wrote a few weeks ago that Worldcat.org (a free and public web-based interface to Worldcat) would be going live soon. Well, today is the day. Paula’s article has lots of details so spend some time jumping in.

As we noted a few weeks ago, Worldcat.org is NOT the first major union catalog on the free web. This honor goes to RedLightGreen from RLG that went live in October 2003 a year before OCLC opened up a portion of the Worldcat database in October 2004 to both Google and Yahoo for crawling. Then, these records would show up “somewhere” in Google and Yahoo results. While it’s true toolbars and search syntax could make it easier, one wonders just how many typical searchers (NOT librarians using Worldcat for searching or verification would take advantage of these options.

So, very briefly (more in upcoming weeks) what does WorldCat.org offer the average searcher? Remember, this is just the first few hours of a beta release so be ready for lots of changes. Our comments are meant only to offer a quick look and perhaps a useful suggestion or two.

+ WorldCat.org contains books, multimedia materials, etc. RedLightGreen only books.
+ A library can make a search box on their own web site in addition to linking to their own local OPAC.
+ Search by title, subject, or person.
+ Although the main search box doesn’t list it, you can search by ISBN.
+ Will the actual records that have been in the Google and Yahoo databases for the past few years remain? Will they be updated.
Will a typical user search for a library catalog or for their local library catalog or none at all?

Examples:
Title search: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Left rail offers refinements similar to RedLightGreen, nice job. However, the book appears after the Johnny Depp version of the movie at number 3. After selecting “visual materials” the first two records appear to be identical.

Clicking the actual record for the 1964 book offers a place for a user to enter their location to see if the book (or other material) is available locally.

Upon entering a Zip Code (10036) you’ll find many locations that hold the item including what might be several libraries that the public might not have borrowing privileges at. OCLC should do more to inform the public that every library listed MIGHT NOT be available to them.

Three examples for specific libraries (btw, access to individual OPACS was a bit slow but this is early in the beta):
1) When we chose Brooklyn Public Library I was taken directly to the BPL OPAC. Very nice. Excellent.
2) When we chose the City College of New York to find the book, we were taken to the OPAC home page and needed to reenter the info. Possibly confusing to many. While the public does have access to the NY Public, we once again needed to reenter the entire query. This might be frustrating to many users.

As a public service for the good of the entire library comnunity, OCLC should offer a list of any libraries in the given area that are not available in Worldcat.org

The right rail also contains a box to purchase the item from Amazon.com.

Tabs include:
+ Details (potentially the table of contents) and a space where a user could add their own comments. This feature was added a few months ago.

+ Subjects: hyperlinked.

+ Editions: 25 editions of the book. Including non-print versions like CD’s and books on tape. One click to check the Amazon catalog for these various editions. We think it might be useful to use a book comparison pricing service that allows users to check several online stores and vendors simultaneously and compare prices.

A Bit of Confusion
We came across this 1973 edition from Knopf of the book. No worries. When we select the Pratt Institute record we find the 2004 40th anniv. edition of the book. Again, possible confusion for some.

Spell Check
Good to see spell check available. Not bad but some names like Petter Jacsco (Peter Jacso), Woodie Allen (Woody Allen), and Jerry Steinfelf (Jerry Seinfeld) should have been caught.

While it’s true many OPACS leave a lot to be desired in terms of UI and ease of use, many of the newer OPACS generation have vastly improved. So, is it any easier to tell a patron to go to their local OPAC vs. WorldCatLibraries.org? If the new site is found in regular web results (like I’m sure OCLC hopes it will be), then that’s a big positive. Of course, for many users, if it’s not in those first 6-8 results it might as well not be there.

Subject Searching
A search for airplanes.
It seems a bit odd that only 446 books are available on the history of airplanes. If they are available using another term their should be a x-reference. Further narrowing, only nine books about airplane history U.S. Even, “airplane” offers only 256 choices.

Worldcat.org does not offer bibliographic formatting nor does it allow for a user to select several records and then format them, email them, create a printer-friendly version, remove them as can be found at RedLightGreen.

Btw, RedLightGreen, which remains online tonight, offers lots including bibliography formatting, hyperlinked refinements (using subject headings, authors names, language, etc.) It also does a nice job of linking multiple versions of the same book for the same record.

Here’s an RLG record as of this evening. Related books available for purchase are also seen and one can associate the record with one of several thousand libraries relatively quickly. With the merger of RLG and OCLC, we are still unsure of the future of this database and its features.

Overall
Betas mean changes and with a few WorldCat.org will become even more useful and hopefully less confusing for the “typical” searcher and researcher OCLC hopes to have make use of this product. More in upcoming weeks. One more positive, the interface is available in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and German.