Settlement Reached in Google's Book Search Project | Main | Models of Digital Scholarly Communication
November 26, 2008
WorldCat's 20-year-old Use Policy revised
OCLC has a long history of encouraging bibliographic ease and unity via its WorldCat database. According to an open letter to OCLC members from the Board "WorldCat grew by an astonishing 22.2 million records and 150 million location listings" in 2008 alone yet its use policy hadn't been revised since 1987. As of an effective date of mid-February 2009, the WorldCat Record Use Policy will finally enter the 21st Century.
Users will notice these major differences:
"the updated Policy...
-Provides access for museums and archives to WorldCat records
-Clarifies the rights and conditions for non-commercial use and transfer
-Clarifies the rights and conditions for commercial use and transfer
-Suggests optional methods for attribution of WorldCat as the source of derived records
-Provides a convenient method for proposals not covered by the Policy (WorldCat Record Use Form)" (FAQ, 2008)
One other major change is in the language of calling it a "policy" not "guidelines." This gives it the appearance of a legal document and works "to be successful negotiating and working with prospective partners, many of which are in the private sector" (FAQ, 2008). The language, and even icon imagery, is much like the Creative Commons licensing conditions.
The answer to the big question "How will this change how my library already interacts with WorldCat?" seems to be "not much." Current library practices appear to remain largely unaffected. If anything this policy opens up some new possibilities for records use and transfer. The policy is also not promoting itself as completely open access but rather was "updated to bridge the gap between open and closed models" which it states is specifically accomplished "by permitting Use and Transfer of WorldCat records by OCLC Members and Non-Members for Non-Commercial, Reasonable Use" (FAQ, 2008).
In a constantly evolving information landscape it's refreshing to see a behemoth like OCLC thoughtfully consider its own responsibility in such an evolution. Personally, I'm just excited about being able to download WorldCat records into my EndNotes. :)
Find the policy here and an extremely helpful FAQ here.
~bryn samuels
Posted by colldev at November 26, 2008 10:30 AM