WorldCat Discovery release notes, August 2022

WorldCat Discovery August Release Highlights  

This release of WorldCat Discovery includes a number of enhancements:

• Navigate through headings on search results, item details and search history page when using a screen reader
• View a simplified experience when sorting, expanding, and grouping searches
• See preferred subjects used by your local library

Many of these changes are as a direct result of your feedback.

Navigate through headings on search results, item details and search history page when using a screen reader

Discovery users using a screen reader can now navigate through search results, item details and search history using headings. This new feature supports a more efficient user journey, allowing users with screen readers to skip content when they wish to.

View a simplified experience when sorting, expanding, and grouping searches

Previously, the dropdown menu for result sorting options was located at the top of search results. Now, this option will appear on the left panel with other search options such as grouping related editions and expanding searches.

The “Group This Search” accordion will now display as collapsed by default, providing a more simplified view of search results in WorldCat Discovery. In addition, the wording for this accordion has been updated to read: “Search Result Display” for a more intuitive user experience.

The “Refine This Search” accordion will now also display as collapsed by default, creating a more simplified look on the search results page. Further, this accordion is now titled “Expand This Search With” to support a more intuitive user journey.

Searching in Discovery, users will now have the following view when on the search results page:
 

See preferred subjects used by your local library

With this release, libraries will be able to display more inclusive subjects in their interface using a universal template provided by OCLC for subject re-mapping. 
Libraries can create a spreadsheet using a universal template provided by WorldCat Discovery. To access the spreadsheet, you can click this link. Prior to downloading the template locally, institutions can edit the universal template by adding their locally created subject re-mappings. This universal template is meant to be an opportunity for collaboration, allowing institutions to benefit from one another’s work.

Note:  The subject re-mapping file does not modify local bibliographic data or the WorldCat record itself; it changes the way subjects display in the user interface for your institution only. With this release, the replacement subject will display on the first term it matches on. An additional future release will expand the functionality to allow replacement on all relevant subject matches.

For definitions of the spreadsheet column headings, as well as more detailed steps on how to implement this feature at your library, please access the documentation for this feature. 

 
Once your institution has defined which subjects they want to alter the local display for, this template can be uploaded into service configuration as a tab-separated values file (.tsv or .txt). To turn on this feature and upload your local template, navigate to Service Configuration > WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > Search Settings > Alternative Subject Headings.
 

 
Note that in service configuration, libraries will have the option to configure a custom message for their users. This is language they will see if they click on a subject that has been re-mapped, warning them that the original language replaced by their library will be displayed when the subject search occurs. 

When the local re-mapping file has been uploaded and saved, users will be able to see the inclusive language their libraries have chosen for display. For example, if the library has chosen to re-map the subject "blind” to “person who is blind”, the subject display would reflect that change.
 

Permalinks with OCN from 019 tag no longer show an error

Previously, permalinks to records using an OCN from a merged record were not resolving correctly to the record page. With this fix, permalinks will resolve correctly even if a record has been merged and the OCN has been moved from the 001 to the 019 MARC field.

Group place hold action now displays with best access option on or off

Previously, institutions were not seeing the level 2 group fulfillment option surface in all expected situations. Level 2 fulfillment will now honor institutional settings.

Copy and paste citations when an ampersand is included

Previously, institutions reported problems with copying and pasting citations with an ampersand present in the original citation. With this release, the character should correctly display when a citation is copied and then pasted in another location.

Available in WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.org

From Alexander Street

• Music Online: Classical Scores Library, Volume 5: Scores from contemporary composers and works from the 20th and 21st centuries alongside a selection of scores from medieval, baroque, classical and romantic time periods.
• Women and Social Movements: Development and the Global South, 1919 - 2019 (Text): This collection looks at women’s global economic participation and activism over an entire century. This database sets out to reveal and assess a realm of individual efforts, organizational initiatives and socio-cultural projects led by women in the global south.
• Women and Social Movements: Development and the Global South, 1919 - 2019 (Video): This collection looks at women's global economic participation and activism over an entire century. This database sets out to reveal and assess a realm of individual efforts, organizational initiatives and socio-cultural projects led by women in the global south.
• Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000, edited by Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Rebecca Plant, 2022 Edition: This database brings together innovative scholarship, primary documents, books, images, essays, book and website reviews, teaching tools, and more.

Office Hours

• http://www.oclc.org/support/services...covery.en.html

Product Website

More product information can be found here.

Support website(s)

Support information for this product and related products can be found at:

• WorldCat Discovery support resources
• WorldCat Discovery training
• Release notes
• OCLC customer support
• Browser compatibility chart

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. 

If you have additional questions, please contact OCLC Customer by calling 1-800-848-5800 or 1-614-793-8682 Monday – Friday 7 a.m. – 9p.m. ET, or email support@oclc.org. For support enquiries in the UK and Ireland, please contact the Support Desk by calling +44-(0)114-281 60 42 or e-mailing support-uk@oclc.org. Support is available between the hours of 09:00 and 17:30 (UK Time).