WorldCat Resource Sharing (WCRS) has a series of features that, collectively, create a more efficient and effective resource sharing workflow, for both borrowing and lending. This is true whether you use WCRS as a standalone, or in partnership with another program such as ILLiad.
Also note that when WCRS works in partnership with ILLiad, “feature overlap” sometimes occurs. That is, a library can chose to print its book straps either in WCRS or in the partner program. The main thing to track, for borrowing and lending to function at their maximum potential, is that the feature is implemented in one of the programs.
OCLC, the world's largest library research and service organization, has released findings from a research study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation designed to identify factors that both drive and limit local library funding support in the United States.
From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America found that most people are unaware of how their local libraries are funded, that library financial support is only marginally related to library visitation, and that voters who believe that the library is a transformational force, rather than a source of information, are more likely to support an increase in library funding.
The OCLC report was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, part of a $1.2 million grant to determine the current state of public support for public libraries in the United States. OCLC worked with Leo Burnett USA, a national research and marketing agency, to conduct the study.
As your regional service provider, OCLC Western supports and enhances the full range of OCLC products and services. As one of only two OCLC service centers in the U.S., OCLC Western is strategically positioned to deliver more education and training, more consulting, and more eContent with more insight on OCLC services—faster than ever before.
Although the OCLC Western staff is always here to help you choose the best OCLC product or service to fit your needs, you can also browse the OCLC services by broad category below or select by product name from the down-down list. In either case, you’ll go straight to the appropriate page on the OCLC site that will open in a new window.
OCLC provides services for all types and sizes of libraries—from the smallest special to the largest academic research library. Contact us to explore additional options for your library.
Through FirstSearch, we offer online access to full-text documents, abstracts, indices and WorldCat, the world’s most powerful bibliographic database. We also partner with the Library of Congress to provide a comprehensive virtual reference service.
Resource Sharing
Our suite of resource sharing products is designed to help all types of libraries. Individual libraries can create, send and track interlibrary loan requests with WorldCat Resource Sharing. OCLC's ILL management system, ILLiad, helps high-productivity libraries streamline their processes. Libraries in consortia or groups can take advantage of VDX, to send and respond to loan requests. And WorldCat Link Manager allows users to link from a journal citation in your catalog to the full-text version of the article.
