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Reference Services
Dec 07 - Jan 08
Issue: 218

WorldCat.org Links to WorldCat Identities

WorldCat.org, the destination web site http://worldcat.org where web users can explore the vast and varied collections of WorldCat-member libraries, now provides links to the OCLC WorldCat Identities service.

WorldCat Identities was developed by those very smart people at OCLC Programs and Research. WorldCat Identities presents an “identity” or profile of a particular person or company based on information and associations stored in the WorldCat bibliographic database. Profiled people can be authors, musicians, actors, directors and others in key creative roles; profiled companies can be publishers, film studios and other firms responsible for releasing a work.

A WorldCat Identities profile takes the holdings and metadata contributed by OCLC cataloging member libraries and creates a profile that typically includes:

An overview with the total number of published titles, languages in which those titles are published, story genres, and roles the person has assumed (author, performer, narrator, etc.).
A timeline displaying the number of publications either created by, or about, the profiled person.
A list of titles most widely owned by WorldCat libraries, with brief descriptions and selected cover art.
A tag cloud of associated library subject headings.
Links to other identities commonly associated with the person profiled.

Many elements within a WorldCat Identities profile – such as the timeline and tag cloud – link back to appropriate WorldCat.org item records or search results.

WorldCat Identities can be found by clicking the “Details” tab of a WorldCat.org record, and then by clicking the link(s) under the “About the Authors” section.

So, if you were to go to http://worldcat.org and enter a search for Owl Moon and click the search result for the book titled Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, you would then click the “Details” tab as illustrated on page 11.

OCLC Reference and FirstSearch Contact Information

For more information about OCLC FirstSearch, please contact Nylink’s Joyce Rambo (ramboj@nylink.org) or Jennifer Hawkes (hawkesj@nylink.org).