— James P. Boyce Centennial Library —

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WorldCat Local Beta

This week we are beginning beta testing of WorldCat Local, a new online interface for searching Boyce Centennial Library’s Catalog. A quick comparison of WorldCat Local with our current OPAC helps visualize some of the changes that are coming.

Initial Search Page on current OPAC:
Image of current OPAC

Initial Search Page on WorldCat Local:
WorldCat Local Start Page

Search Results on current OPAC:
Old OPAC search results

Search Results on WorldCat Local:
WCL Search Results

WorldCat Local delivers many enhancements and new features to our patrons, including:

  • A streamlined search interface
  • Categories to refine your search terms quickly
  • Cover art to help you locate an item quickly by sight
  • Lists of subjects related to your results that can be quickly searched with a single click
  • A “Browse Similar Items” window
  • Easy-to-understand circulation information so you can see where the item is located in the library and whether or not it is available
  • Links to do further research about authors
  • The option to write reviews about items in the library
  • The ability to add tags to items
  • The option to share items on social network sites like Facebook or bookmark them on sites like Delicious
  • A custom list editor to quickly create a bibliography of your search results
  • Built in citation options to export references to your favorite bibliographic software

    • This is a partial list of new features now available in our beta test of WorldCat Local. In the coming days, I’ll post blog entries overviewing these features with tips on how to get the most from them. In the meantime, we hope you’ll spend some time exploring WorldCat Local (sbts.worldcat.org), and then please send us some feedback (worldcatfeedback@gmail.com) on what you like, what worked, what didn’t (it is a beta, after all!), and what could be added or improved.