WorldCat Discovery release notes, January 2026
Release Date: January 21, 2026
Introduction
This release of WorldCat Discovery includes bug fixes:
- Report a Broken Link email now uses correct item permalink
- Citations now display correctly for records with undefined language
- Subject facets now display correct labels instead of numbers
- Improved searching of Chinese characters for additional name/contributors data
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 OCLC Service Configuration. Please remember that your library must have a valid subscription to these databases in order to enable them.
Below is a list of new database names and providers for reference. Refer to the Complete list of databases.
Available in WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.org
| Database Name | Subscription Provider |
| British Association for the Advancement of Science | Wiley |
| Environmental Science and History | Wiley |
| Royal College of Physicians I & II | Wiley |
| Royal Geographical Society I & II | Wiley |
| New York Academy of Science | Wiley |
| Nomos eLibrary | C.H. Beck |
Bug fixes
Report a Broken Link email now uses correct item permalink
The "Item Link" in the Report a Broken Link confirmation email now correctly links to the item detail page (permalink) instead of redirecting users to the general search results page.
Previously, when users reported a broken link from Discovery search results or item details, the confirmation email sent to institutions included an incorrect link labeled "Item Link." This link took users to a search results page rather than the specific item record.
Citations now display correctly for records with undefined language
The citation window in WorldCat Discovery now correctly displays citation details for records, including those missing a defined language.
Previously, when users opened the citation window for certain records, an error message appeared instead of the citation. This occurred because the bibliographic data included a language code of "|||", which indicates no attempt to code the language. The system now handles these cases by displaying "Undetermined" as the language, ensuring citation tools work consistently.
Subject facets now display correct labels instead of numbers
Subject facet values in WorldCat Discovery now correctly display descriptive labels instead of internal codes.
Previously, certain subject facets were showing unmapped conspectus codes rather than descriptive labels. This occurred because several topic values were missing from the related files used for display lookup. The missing mappings have been added, ensuring users will see the correct descriptive labels.
Improved searching of Chinese characters for additional name/contributors data
Searches originating from contributor hyperlinks with Chinese characters now include both the author and the title, just like other languages.
Previously, when clicking on a contributor name in Chinese on an item details page, the system only searched by author, omitting the title portion of the query. This resulted in incomplete search results for users exploring works by contributors whose names include Chinese characters. To learn more about what information is included in additional name/contributors field please visit the help documentation.
Important links
Product website
More product information can be found here.
WorldCat Discovery events
Support websites
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.
