WorldCat Mobile Now Available in Europe…07.07.09

According an OCLC newsrelease:

“OCLC today announced that the WorldCat Mobile pilot, a program that makes collections from libraries visible through mobile devices, has been extended to Europe.  Expanding the pilot to Europe means that now phones in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, and France will also be operational.

The WorldCat Mobile pilot allows users to search for and find books and other materials available in libraries near them through a Web application they can access from a PDA or smartphone.

Based on WorldCat.org, the world’s largest online resource for finding information in libraries, the pilot has already proved a huge success in the U.S. and Canada. Thanks to advanced global positioning capabilities found in most mobiles, WorldCat Mobile pilot users in these countries will be able to find local library materials, if the library in question has loaded records in WorldCat, no matter where they happen to be. Users can even get a Google Maps view of the library location along with detailed driving instructions if the mobile device supports the application…”

OCLC Final Report – Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records…06.29.09

From the Celeripedean blog:

“OCLC just announced that it will withdraw it policy on proposed Policy on Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records.

After review of the recommendations, OCLC has formally withdrawn the proposed policy. A new group will soon be assembled to begin work to draft a new policy with more input and participation from the OCLC membership.

The Review Board’s final report is available on the Web at www.oclc.org/worldcat/catalog/policy/board/default.htm.

If you are at ALA and still have questions or would like more information, there will be a forum from 10:30-noon on July 12..”

WorldCat Now Available on Mobile Phones…01.19.09

WorldCat Mobile service was announced today [http://www.worldcat.org/mobile/]:

“… Available to people in the United States and Canada, the six-month pilot lets you try out mobile search of WorldCat libraries and suggest improvements or additional features.

WorldCat has partnered with mobile-technology leader Boopsie and joined its growing array of search “channels” that let you quickly access popular Web applications including Google, Wikipedia and Facebook; look up retail locations such as Starbucks and FedEx; and check news, weather, traffic reports and much more!

When you download the Boopsie application to your phone, you get library search plus these additional channels, as well as its ’smart prefix’ feature that allows you to type only the first few letters of search keywords and view results instantly as you type…

iPhone users can also try the experimental WorldCat application at http://mobileworldcat.org/. This mobile Web site is designed specifically for use with an iPhone or iTouch and the Safari Web browser, and may not function properly with other mobile devices.”

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New “Classify” Service from OCLC to Find Class Numbers in WorldCat…07.10.08

Yesterday on Lorcan Dempsy’s blog was a very interesting post [http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/001702.html] about a new and potentially very helpful service from OCLC called “Classify” [http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/classify/] which he says “…is a prototype service which provides a snapshot of what class numbers (DDC, LCC, NLM) have been assigned to works in WorldCat…”  It is worth investigating further.  Access, however, to Classify will likely be for OCLC members.  You can test it out here: http://deweyresearch.oclc.org/classify2/