OCLC and The Combined Regions announce plans to launch first Web [OCLC]

OCLC and The Combined Regions announce plans to launch first Web [OCLC]: "updates and offers
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OCLC and The Combined Regions announce plans to launch Web-based public library national union catalogue in UK
BIRMINGHAM, UK, 06 January 2011—

New shared Web catalogue to boost visibility and usage of public library resources

OCLC and The Combined Regions (TCR) have announced plans to launch Britain's first freely accessible national public library union catalogue. Containing the bibliographic data from 80% of the UK's public libraries, the service will make it possible for Web users to simultaneously search 9 million bibliographic records and 50 million holdings.

Leveraging information already indexed in WorldCat, the world's largest online resource for finding library materials, this customised union catalogue will provide a view of holdings contributed by the 149 local authorities with a current full package subscription to UnityUK, the UK's only nationwide network for resource sharing.

The initiative will make bibliographic data more discoverable on the open Web. Indexing of WorldCat data through search engines such as Google and Yahoo! will vastly improve awareness of public library resources and drive significantly increased traffic back to local libraries."