Search UW Libraries and beyond

I am reviewing WorldCat Local at the University of Washington, a new product from OCLC that will allow libraries to have the benefit of searching their catalog as well as WorldCat all from one place.

The University of Washington Libraries is the first library system to implement the Beta version of OCLC’s new search interface WorldCat Local. This feature is embedded on their main web page, as a simple search text box, while there is only a link to their OPAC from this page.

One of the greatest strengths in this is the ability to do a three tiered search of WorldCat. It places the results in order of relevancy. UW Libraries first, then Summit libraries (a consortium of Washington, and Oregon libraries), and then all other WorldCat affiliated libraries. It allows one to request items in all 3 tiers, and in a recent visit to UT Libraries the ILL librarian from UW claimed their borrowing of ILL materials had increased 300% because of this feature. In addition, depending on the home libraries OPAC, it will allow one to see the availability of an item

The search will also include citations to articles in several databases, as well as providing links to subscription databases which contain the full text or the record for the print item in the UW Libraries. One can also see how to cite these articles in various citation styles or import these citations into RefWorks or EndNote.

Some interesting extras included are some features that will allow links to reviews or to allow users to add reviews as long as they sign up for a free worldcat user account.

The only real limitation I could find is that you can’t do a very specific search. For example, it will not allow users to limit by branch locations or specific format, so for these features they have to enter into their OPAC if they wish to do this.

The main reason I was interested in this is because as an employee of the UT Libraries, I was recently informed that UT will be adopting this service as soon they become Z 39.50 compliant, even though their website claims they already are.