Frequently Asked Questions about the WorldCat Registry

The WorldCat Registry is a Web-based directory of libraries and library consortia. This authoritative service allows any institution to do three things:

1. Create and maintain comprehensive institutional information in a secure, Web-accessible location
2. Share institutional information internally between branches or consortia members, and externally with vendors and other third parties
3. Enhance the visibility of institutional services and content through Web services such as WorldCat.org

The Registry streamlines the routine maintenance of many kinds of information about your physical operations, computer systems and people that a variety of organizations need.vendors, publishers, partners, funding agencies, fellow institutions, and the OCLC cooperative.

The Registry provides a secure Web platform where all parties can quickly access the most up-to-date information. You avoid having to maintain duplicate information, and can automate routine tasks such as activating a new subscription service, renewal or IP update.

The WorldCat Registry features data about an institution.s physical facilities, operations, services, and people, including:

• Identifying codes assigned by various standards or industry organizations;
• Details about its location, contacts, Web sites, and electronic services;
• A record of relationships with parent consortia or child branches;
• Library catalog links;
• OpenURL resolver information to help link your users to full text

That is largely up to the community that utilizes the WorldCat Registry. OCLC has pre-populated the Registry with entries for libraries, archives, museums and other forms of institutions. All libraries are encouraged to maintain a presence in the Registry.no matter how small.

Yes, if you are an OCLC member library whose holdings are visible on WorldCat.org, certain data relative to physical location and electronic services will display in WorldCat.org results.

No! The Registry is open to all libraries and consortia.

Participation in the WorldCat Registry is free for any library or consortium. There is no charge to have your institution represented or to share your information with vendors or other entities.

Existing user accounts you may have with the following OCLC services are accepted by OCLC Service Configuration:

WorldCat Registry has multiple levels of access; an authorized account has the highest level of access. The chart below illustrates permitted activities within these levels and explains how to authorize your account:

Yes. OCLC has automatically created Registry information for its members with existing data. OCLC has also included many non-OCLC institutions using data freely available from other sources. Before you add your institution, please search the Registry to see if your institution is already represented.

Yes, an institution can permit multiple users to modify its profile. (Authorized users for an institution are maintained via the "Authorize Users" link on the Profile Summary page.)

Once you have updated your information, the WorldCat Registry interface provides a special Web hyperlink you can send to vendors, consortia, funding bodies, internal staff.any person or organization you believe could benefit from having access to your information. The link is "obfuscated": it displays random characters hiding encoded information that is read-only.

Deep links allow Web users who have reached the WorldCat.org item to link directly to the same record in your library's online catalog.

WorldCat Registry data is syndicated across the Web sites that millions of information seekers use every day, through partnerships with major search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, and through OCLC Web services.

When you maintain catalog deep links in the Registry, more people will link to, discover and use your content. If your Registry information doesn.t include deep-linking information, Web users following syndicated WorldCat data cannot reach an individual item record in your catalog; they're taken instead to your catalog's main search page, where they must repeat their search.

A global policy is a generic Resource Sharing policy viewable by all users of the WorldCat Registry. The global policy allows an institution to state whether than loan or copy within their county or outside of their home country, and to indicate whether a fee is charge for use of their materials.

WorldCat Registry users who are authorized to edit an institution.s information in OCLC Service Configuration can define the institution.s global policy.

No. You may select only one fee option.

No. The OCLC ILL policies and the WorldCat Registry Global Policies are two disparate databases. You will still need to define your OCLC policies as needed for OCLC Resource Sharing.

Global Policies are pre-populated for OCLC ILL members.

Use the "Get E-mail Updates" link at the top of this or other Registry pages.

That is largely up to the community that utilizes the WorldCat Registry. OCLC has pre-populated the Registry with entries for libraries, archives, museums and other forms of institutions. Traditionally, of course, institutions consist of physical facilities with physical and/or electronic collections and/or services that cross multiple departments or branches, administered by one or more professionals. However, no restrictions prevent a smaller physical entity such as a church library, or a "virtual" entity such as a digital library, from representing itself in the Registry. Note, though, that a postal address is required.

Yes. You can place a link to your institution's full information on your library's intranet site. This will provide your staff a common location to find current technical and service information for your institution. You can also save your institution's information as an XML file, which can be locally managed and shared in whatever way you choose.

An XML-format file is easily imported into Microsoft Excel. Save your data onto your computer from a Web browser window, then open it in Excel. Excel automatically parses the XML data into spreadsheet columns.

Storing the file locally or on a network location as an Excel file may be preferred in some institutions' workflows. You may also wish to use the Excel file for quarterly review among staff to ensure institutional data is accurate.

Yes. IP address information is, for the moment, used only for the services that are maintained through OCLC Service Configuration.

OCLC intends to translate the Registry into other languages. Future interface translations will be announced as they are released.

Your OpenURL resolver(s) provide an important link between discovery interfaces and the delivery of full text, abstracts and other electronic content to which your institution is subscribed.