Last updated on May 14th, 2025 at 12:29 am
WorldCat is the world’s largest library catalogue. It allows users to find library resources registered in its database by using simple and boolean search criteria found at any library, be it at a local council, high school, or institution of higher learning such as colleges/TAFE and universities. It operates with the cooperation libraries around the world which upload their catalogues to the WorldCat database.
In the past fifty years, thousands of libraries have represented their collections in WorldCat. Today, you can search WorldCat in nearly 500 languages to find physical items like books, audiobooks, maps, musical scores, and recordings, along with electronic items like ebooks, e-journals, articles, and digital images you can access online. (WorldCat | About)
WorldCat is maintained by OCLC, an American not-for-profit organisation for the larger library community.
It [OCLC] was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, then became the Online Computer Library Center as it expanded. In 2017, the name was formally changed to OCLC, Inc.[4]OCLC and thousands of its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. (Wikipedia | OCLC).
Why use worldcat?
If you are looking for a topic such as woodworking, you may not find it in your local library catalogue. You would have to research other libraries to see if they had a collection on woodworking. If you were lucky, you might be able to find a specialised library such as a local college/TAFE where woodworking was taught.
An alternative might be to purchase a book on the topic. Prior to the advent of the Internet, good libraries maintained a subscription to Books in Print, an index of Engish language publications. This was the go-to resource when wanting to know what books might cover a given topic, which may not be in your local library catalogue. This service is not often available at today’s Australian libraries. WorldCat, however, is an excellent resource for finding books which are available around the world.
See Wikipedia | R. R. Bowker for a history of the development of Books in Print in its digital and print formats.
Another method, which is not so thorough, is to use the Internet to browse topics. A number of websites specialise in online sales of books, such as Amazon.com.au. The downside of this method is that you may not find a book on a given topic if the online retailer does not have it in its catalogue.