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Information for authors

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This page is intended to provide information to authors regarding their works in relation to OCLC.

About WorldCat

WorldCat is the world's most comprehensive database of information about library collections. Unique in scale and unparalleled in data quality, WorldCat makes library collections findable and accessible around the world. It's where you can locate a book, video, or other item of interest and discover which libraries near you own the item. Individual member libraries in your community and elsewhere provide access to the items represented in WorldCat. You can access WorldCat through the freely available WorldCat.org website or via the FirstSearch or WorldCat Discovery services at an OCLC member library. 

WorldCat.org is a free, publicly available version of WorldCat. All records in WorldCat are searchable on WorldCat.org. Materials in the collections of OCLC members are displayed on WorldCat.org for libraries that maintain appropriate subscriptions.

 Note: OCLC recommends first contacting the publisher or institution owning your work to address any desired record changes, updates, or corrections. The sources provide much of the metadata reflected in WorldCat and often they are the only ones able to edit it.