WorldCat Discovery release notes, July 2020
Release Date: July 30, 2020
Introduction
This release of WorldCat Discovery provides a new custom notification feature in addition to numerous bug fixes. This new feature will allow you to create institution-specific messages to help you better communicate with users.
Man of these enhancements are the direct result of your feedback.
Recommended actions
For this release, we recommend that you review the following checklists and complete the relevant tasks so that you can adjust your policies and workflows and train your staff. These checklists identify updates that we have determined as significant for most institutions. We encourage you to review all of the items in the release notes to determine whether there are other items that might require additional action or follow up by your institution.
Administrative actions
These items require immediate action or decisions.
| Action |
|---|
|
Review the new enhancement and decide whether to enable a custom notification message to display on your library's WorldCat Discovery interface |
Follow-up actions
In an effort to keep your staff informed of new features and changes, you may also want to consider these items.
| Action |
|---|
|
Review notification options with staff members |
New features and enhancements
Custom Notification
You can now configure custom notifications that will display across WorldCat Discovery (with the exception of user portal). We hope this enhancement will help you better communicate important information to your users.
Service Configuration Settings
Configuration for this feature is in worldcat.org/config> WorldCat Discovery> Display Settings. When you open the menu, the settings are disabled by default as seen in this screen shot below:
You can configure the following settings:
- Enable or disable the custom notification
- Add a custom translation
- Add a custom URL in your primary notification AND your translated notification
Note: When inserting a custom URL, you must type ${Link!} in the notification message for the URL text to appear. There is a separate text box where you type the link text that you wish to display.
WorldCat Discovery display
When this feature is enabled, the institution-specific message will display across all pages in WorldCat Discovery (with the exception of user portal). The screenshot below shows how this information will display:
Bug fixes
Improved French translation of Print copies at your library
When Print Copies at your library appears on the WorldCat Discovery A to Z list item details page when searching for an item, or landing on the details page from an incoming link resolver, users who view this interface in French will now see this text updated:
| Old Text | Updated Text |
| Imprimer des exemplaires à votre bibliothèque | Exemplaires papier à votre bibliothèque |
Correction to Place Hold form when using web browser IE 11
Prior to this release when the Place Hold form was viewed in Internet Explorer 11, users would see several error messages display and were unable to submit their holds. After this release, users will be able to view and place holds using IE 11 as expected.
New content
This is a list of new databases added to WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.org since our last update.
You can enable these databases as search options in the Licensed Content and Databases module of the OCLC Service Configuration site. Please remember that your library must have a valid subscription to these databases in order to enable them.
The complete list of databases is available at https://help.oclc.org/@api/deki/files/6370/contentlisttargetID.xlsx
Available in WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.org
From Alexander Street
- Film Platform Collection – Canada: A collection of award-winning documentary films focusing on the most pressing issues of our time curated for academic audiences.
- Film Platform Collection – Outside North America: A collection of award-winning documentary films focusing on the most pressing issues of our time curated for academic audiences.
- Film Platform Collection – United States: A collection of award-winning documentary films focusing on the most pressing issues of our time curated for academic audiences.
- Latin American Drama: A database with plays written by Latin American playwrights in the 19th-21st centuries. The collection also supports the study of American history, ethnic diversity, immigration issues, and political history.
- Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies (Text): A textual collection examining prison populations and their relationship to major prison labor systems and how correctional facilities may serve as central service providers for those with mental health issues. Other topics include: the use of the death penalty; the history of correctional institutions for juvenile offenders; internment camps; prison gangs and riots; the loss of rights for prisoners.
- Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies (Video): A video collection examining prison populations and their relationship to major prison labor systems and how correctional facilities may serve as central service providers for those with mental health issues. Other topics include: the use of the death penalty; the history of correctional institutions for juvenile offenders; internment camps; prison gangs and riots; the loss of rights for prisoners.
From Brill
- Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics Online: The Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics offers the most comprehensive reference work on Slavic languages ever published.
Important links
Support website(s)
Support information for this product and related products can be found at:
Include request ID with problem reports
When reporting an issue with WorldCat Discovery, it is extremely helpful to include the Request ID. The Request ID is found at the bottom of the screen on which the issue occurred. Including this information allows us to directly trace what happened on the request we are troubleshooting.
