Recently in Library stuff Category

The top 5 items added by WorldCat libraries in October are:

1- The spire : a novel, by Patricia Cornwell. Added by 1213 WorldCat libraries.
2- 10-10-10 : 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years - a life-transforming idea, by Suzy Welch. Added by 863 WorldCat libraries.
3- Nine dragons : a novel, by Michael Connelly. Added by 845 WorldCat libraries
4- Evidence : an Alex Delaware novel, by Jonathan Kellerman. Added by 809 WorldCat libraries
5- The Scarpetta Factor, by Patricia Cornwell. Added by 783 WorldCat libraries

Lists of recent items added to WorldCat libraries for the month of Oct. are now available. You can see these lists on your library's WorldCat profile page which can be accessed via the 'Library info' link in the list of holding libraries on the item details page or the library name in the library search results (to search for your library, go to WorldCat.org/libraries).

The recent items list for each library now provides a breakdown of different item types by: all new items, new fiction, new non-fiction, new juvenile and new non-juvenile.

October stats include:
- 9,393 libraries added new items to WorldCat in October
- Of those, 490 did not have an existing recent items list, so WorldCat automatically created a new list.
- 8,903 existing recent items lists were updated.

Making lists on WorldCat.org is getting to be pretty popular. We currently have over 200,000 of them on the site, with more being added daily. I've done a few of them myself, including a recent one that is simply a copy of the items mentioned in a recent io9 blog post, "Where to start with young adult science fiction." WorldCat lists are great for things like that; keeping track of books that I'd eventually like to borrow from the library and read to/with my son at some point... in the frighteningly-ever-nearer future when he goes from "kid" (he's 10) to "young adult."

With a list like that, it's neat to be able to share it or send a simple link to a friend. WorldCat makes it easy for anybody to do that. Some lists, though, are quite a bit more... well... research intensive. And WorldCat is a great place to work on bibliographies of a much more substantive nature, especially if you want help from others.

A great example of such a list is one being created by the Senior Information Specialist here in OCLC's corporate library. Tam Dalrymple provides the writers and editors on my team with absolutely AWESOME research service for many of the pieces we work on, including some of the OCLC membership reports. But she also works on long-term projects related to the profession as a whole. Tam is currently assembling the list, "Library Users and Non-Users - A Bibliography from the OCLC Library." This is a collection of studies on how -- or whether -- libraries fit into people's information-seeking behavior. Right now Tam is concentrating on published books, reports or dissertations, rather than articles. Currently many of the items focus on library use and users, but one of her goals is to include more studies that start from the perspective of the information seeker.  There are 50 items on the list as of today... worth taking a look if you have any interest in research involving library use.

And... As you can guess from reading that description, this is a work in progress. Tam is actively soliciting idea for additions to the list. If you can think of something, feel free to email her at: dalrympt@oclc.org.

Two great ways to use WorldCat Lists: personal forget-me-nots, and shared, major research efforts. My guess is that there are a lot of other lists on WorldCat that fit somewhere in between.

PS: You can search for others' WorldCat lists by clicking on the "Search" drop-down box at the top of the WorldCat.org screen, and choosing "Search for Lists."

This month is going to be a busy one for WorldCat folks. Particularly for the WorldCat Mobile pilot team, as there are 2 industry conferences that they'll be presenting at in October:

LITA National Forum
Friday, Oct. 2, 4:20-5:30 pm
Alpine West, Hilton Salt Lake City Center
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Internet Librarian 2009
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1:30 to 2:30 pm
Room C203, Monterey Conference Center
Monterey, California, USA

For both these presentations, it's not so much about showing off the WorldCat Mobile pilot--as much as we like it--but it's really set up to share what we've learned about people trying to find library materials on the mobile platform. What works, what doesn't, what the motivations might be for using a mobile device over a large-screen one and how do we take that into the user experience, etc.

Speaking of the WorldCat Mobile pilot, there have now been more than 17,500 downloads of the WorldCat Mobile pilot app (or accesses of the Web "lite" version, if your phone does not support downloads.)

If you live in Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, UK or US and haven't downloaded the WorldCat Mobile pilot app and tried it out yet, there's no time like the present. Even with the latest enhancements like more images and improved relevancy rankings, we would still like to hear your ideas of how to make it better, faster, smarter, snappier and in general--more useful for you.