An Environmental Scan of OCLC Alternatives: A Management Perspective

Abstract

OCLC’s WorldCat now holds more than 320 million bibliographic records with some 2-plus billion holdings linked to the bibliographic records. The vast majority of the world’s libraries, archives, and museums rely on OCLC as the primary source for bibliographic records. Compared to all other options, OCLC is clearly the very large elephant in the room. OCLC provides a broad range of services, including WorldShare Metadata Services (cataloging); WorldShare Interlibrary Loan (sharing resources); WorldShare Management Services (cloud-based integrated library system); WorldCat Discovery Services; and CONTENTdm™ (management of digital collections). This article explores the available options for obtaining cataloging records from alternative sources by considering four factors: breadth, quality, ease of use, and costs of use of the bibliographic database.