Create a knowledge base collection

Create a knowledge base collection that is not in the global WorldCat knowledge base. Use these instructions to create an electronic collection that is not in the global knowledge base or to create a print collection.

About adding knowledge base collections

To see the collections in the global knowledge base, browse the collections available in the WorldCat knowledge base (updated monthly). Alternatively, perform a search in Collection Manager to return all available collections. Select All Collections from the Scope drop-down and click Search.

When to select a knowledge base collection in full (the entire collection)

Select a knowledge base collection in full if it is available in the global WorldCat knowledge base and the entirety of the collection titles match your subscription.

When to modify a collection to select your subset of titles

Modify a knowledge base collection if it is available in the global WorldCat knowledge base and your library subscribes to a subset of the titles in the collection.

If your library subscribes to a subset of the titles in a collection, you can modify the collection. You have the following options for selecting the collection:

  • Select the titles individually via the Titles drop-down in the collection.
  • Modify the title selections, coverage and other title data to match your library-specific holdings one title at a time within the interface or in bulk by modifying the KBART-formatted spreadsheet and uploading your modified file.
When to create a knowledge base collection

If a collection your library needs is not already represented in the global WorldCat knowledge base data, create a knowledge base collection in Collection Manager using the steps on this page. For example, if your library has a niche or unique electronic collection, you can create the collection.

Find instructions to create knowledge base collections for print serials or represent databases:

For some collections, OCLC and your provider can automatically add and maintain your library-specific collection data. See Providers and contacts for Automatic Holdings Feeds for more information.

 Caution: Once you have requested to have your collections selected automatically, do not add, delete, or update any of the titles within the collection. If there is an issue with the titles selected or missing from your collection, please contact OCLC Support with examples.  

For other methods to add knowledge base collections, see Choose a method to add or create a knowledge base collection.

Watch a video

Select and edit WorldCat knowledge base collections

Run time: 9:38

This video demonstrates how to use the WorldShare Collection Manager interface to select and edit WorldCat knowledge base collections, as well as edit these collections using KBART files.

Create a knowledge base collection

You have two options for adding titles to your collection. Follow the instructions to Create a collection and and to Navigate to the collection you created. Then follow the steps to Add titles using a KBART file upload or to Add title one-by-one in the interface.

Create a collection

  1. Sign in to the WorldShare interface at your library's WorldShare URL. Replace yourlibrary with your library's identifier: https://yourlibrary.share.worldcat.org/wms
  2. Navigate to Metadata (or Licenses)> Collection Manager.
  3. Click Create a Collection and select Knowledge Base Collection from the Collection Type drop-down.
  4. Click Create.
  5. Open the Properties accordion for a new collection:
    1. Enter a Collection Name.
    2. A Collection ID will be generated automatically.
      • You have the option to customize this ID but the value must remain unique among collections.
    3. Optional. Enter a Provider.
      • When you create a knowledge base collection, you have the option to complete the field for Provider. If your provider is not already in the WorldCat knowledge base, you can create a custom provider so that the provider will be available in your local knowledge base. Your custom provider (for example, "My University") will be searchable content in Collection Manager. You will be able to sort this provider among the other WorldCat knowledge base providers when you elevate links from a specific provider for WorldCat Discovery.

         Note: Create local collections per provider for linking consistency. Including titles from multiple providers in a single locally created collection is not recommended. 
         
    4. Optional. Enter a Description, select Attributes, or enter Public or Staff Notes.
  1. Click Create.

Navigate to the collection you created

  1. Navigate to the Collection Manager search box.
  2. Select My Selected Collections as the Scope and click Search.
  3. Use the Filter drop-down list at the top of the screen to narrow your search results. Choose:
    • Collections I created
       

      Screenshot highlighting how to navigate to collections you created in WorldShare Collection Manager

Option 1: Add titles using a KBART file upload

 Learn more in a training course: Use KBART files to edit WorldCat knowledge base collections

Download a KBART-formatted template

Use the KBART template for a blank KBART spreadsheet to add your titles.

You can also download a KBART file from an existing collection if titles have been selected. 

  1. Navigate to the collection.
  2. Use the Collection Actions drop-down list to select Download Titles in This Collection.
    • If you select My Selected Collections, the file will not be immediately available. A Download here link appears on the collection when the file is ready.
  3. Open your .txt. file as a KBART spreadsheet
    1. Open the .txt file in Notepad or TextEdit.
    2. Navigate to Edit > Select All and copy the entire selection.
    3. Open Office, Microsoft Excel, or your preferred spreadsheet editing application.
    4. Click in the first cell of the spreadsheet and then right click and paste. The content of the .txt file will populate the spreadsheet in KBART format.
    5. Sometimes tab delimited text files get corrupted in the process of opening them. Check to make sure that the columns are not reformatted and correct the formatting if needed. For example, the below columns may more frequently need correcting:

Enter KBART title data

You are not required to fill in every column in the KBART spreadsheet. The values needed depend on the format of the collection you are creating. You have two options to enter title data.

Option A: Use "Autofill"

You can add OCLC numbers to a KBART formatted spreadsheet to have the system populate some of the title data fields. Afterward, you will need to enter your coverage information and Title URLs. For instructions, see KBART values and formatting, "Autofill" values.

Option B: Enter title data

You can fill in the recommended title data and include your coverage information and Title URLs. For instructions and details about the data values that are required, see KBART values and formatting, Recommended values by format.

Make sure to:

  • Use the correct format for dates. See how to Represent coverage information and Use the correct date format
  • Include the Collection ID in the oclc_collection_id column of your KBART file. The Collection ID in your file must match that in the collection you created in order for the titles to upload to your collection properly
  • Include a unique numerical value for each title in the oclc_entry_id column
  • Add a value to each title row of the ACTION column: Use the value "raw"

    See the KBART ACTION column values for more information.

Save your file

Before you upload your file to the WorldShare interface, save your spreadsheet as Text (Tab delimited) (.txt).

 Note: If the file includes diacritics, including non-Latin characters, save it as Unicode Text (.txt). When you upload the file in the WorldShare interface, use the File encoding drop-down list to change the default selection to UTF-16LE (Unicode Text/Excel).

Upload your file

  1. Search for the collection you created. Click on the name of your collection in the search results to open your collection.
  2. Use the Collection Actions drop-down list to select Upload Titles to This Collection.
  3. In the Upload Collection File box, choose the Scope of your file:
    • Update changes only (default)
      Choosing "Update changes only" causes the system to look only for changes in the file and to use the specified ACTION value to determine how to process the changes. Choose this option if:
      • You are creating a collection for the first time
      • You have made changes to title data and are using the "overlay" or "covoverlay" ACTION value
    • Replace all titles in collection
      Choosing "Replace all titles in collection" will cause the system to delete or deselect any existing title selections in the collection and replace them with the information in the new file you are uploading. Choose this option if:
      • You are using a file to delete or deselect titles from a collection

        Screenshot of the Upload Collection File dialog in WorldShare Collection Manager

  4. Choose an upload File encoding
    1. Leave the default File encoding UTF-8 unless you need to change it. If your collection data includes non-Latin characters, use the File encoding drop-down list to change the default selection to UTF-16LE (Unicode Text/Excel).
      The following options are available:
      • UTF-8
      • ISO-88591 (LATIN-1)
      • UTF-16LE (Unicode Text/Excel)
  5. Browse for and select your .txt file and click Upload. 
  6. When the upload has finished processing, preview the report and decide whether to approve the KBART upload or discard it and start again.
    • The upload preview will be available for 72 hours from the generation date.
  7. The collection will then be locked for re-indexing until your changes have had time to process.

 Caution: Excel files (.xls) and (.xlsx) will NOT upload correctly. Your file should be saved as a (.txt) tab delimited text file, Unicode Text .txt.

View the status of your file upload

 Note: When reporting problems, include your Registry ID and attach the file you attempted to upload. If possible, include proxy credentials that will allow us to access full-text links. Your information is needed to diagnose and resolve certain issues.

After you upload a knowledge base collection in Collection Manager, you can check the status of your file upload by opening the Collection History accordion within the collection.  Alternatively, you can view your institution's history in your institution Activity History. See Activity History for instructions and details about Activity History detailed reports.

Option 2: Add titles one-by-one in the interface

 Learn more in a training course: Edit WorldCat knowledge base collections with user interface

Add a title

  1. After you Navigate to the collection you created, click on the name of your collection in the search results to open your collection.
  2. Expand the Titles accordion.

This accordion displays a list of titles within the collection that users have selected. To find the list of title-level settings, please see Title-level settings in knowledge base collections and/or the documentation on how to Modify a collection to select your subset of titles for more information.

Add a Global Title

When viewing a global collection, use the Add a Global Title drop-down and select Create a Title to add a knowledge base title. See How to add a new title to an existing collection for more information.

Screenshot highlighting the Add a Global Title button in WorldShare Collection Manager

Add a Local Title

When viewing a local collection, use the Add a Local Title drop-down to select how you will add a knowledge base title to your local collection. Select either Create a Title or Create Using OCLC Number to Pre-fill.

Screenshot highlighting the Add a Local Title button in WorldShare Collection Manager

Create a Title

Select this option to add new titles by manually typing in the information. To add title data manually:

  1. From the Add a Local Title drop-down list, select Create a TItle.
  2. Enter a Title Name.
  3. Select the Coverage Depth. Options include:
    • Audio
    • Ebook
    • Image
    • Journal - Abstracts
    • Journal - Full Text
    • Journal - Indexed
    • Journal - Selected Full Text
    • Journal - Print
    • Video
    • Other
  4. Enter required fields. The required fields differ depending on the Coverage Depth:
    • If creating an e-resource collection, enter a Title URL that resolves to a homepage for each title
    • If creating a print journal collection, select Journal – Print under Coverage Depth and then select Add Coverage under Coverage and enter coverage details for each title. See Coverage for details.
    • Use the correct date format (YYYY-MM-DD). See KBART values and formatting for details
  5. Enter the appropriate Linking information. See Title level settings in knowledge base collections, Linking. 
  6. Click Save.
  7. Repeat the steps to add each title until you have added all of the titles for the collection.

Create Using OCLC Number to Pre-fill

Select this option to have the system fill in title data automatically if the OCLC number is available. To add a title automatically:

  1. From the Add a Local Title drop-down list, select Create Using OCLC Number to Pre-fill.
  2. Enter the OCLC number in the box that appears and click Continue. The system will find the WorldCat record and automatically fill in the available information such as:
    • Title, OCLC number, Coverage Depth, and so forth
  3. We recommend that you check the Coverage Depth for accuracy.
  4. If needed, populate:
    1. Your coverage information
    2. Title URLs

Auto Select Titles

The Auto Select Titles setting in global knowledge base collections enables functionality to automatically select titles as they are added from OCLC data updates. You can enable or disable the setting regardless of whether you have selected a collection in full or have selected a subset of titles.

The default setting depends on if you selected all or a subset of titles in a collection:

  • All titles in a collection are selected - Enabled by default
  • A subset of titles in a collection are selected - Disabled by default

You can enable or disable the setting at any time. For example, if you have all titles in a collection selected except for a few that are regionally restricted, the setting will be disabled by default. Enable Auto Select Titles if you want newly added titles to be automatically selected. Enabling the setting will not change your current title selections. Rather, titles added in future data updates will be automatically selected.

 Note: When a collection is being updated by an automated holdings feed, you should not select the option to Auto Select Titles in the Titles accordion of the collection's settings. Refer to Providers and contacts for Automatic Holdings Feeds for more information.

For more information, see Title-level settings in knowledge base collections.

Request OCLC create a link scheme for your collection (optional)

Link schemes are needed in order for articles to resolve to full text. Regardless of how the collection is created (one title at a time or via file upload) you need a link scheme for e-journal collections to resolve to full-text for articles. Without a link scheme, article citations will link to the journal’s homepage instead of the article.

OCLC can create a link scheme for you, but only if:

  • All titles are on the same platform
  • The provider uses consistent structure for their linking syntax, and
  • The platform supports article level linking

See Link scheme values and overrides for details.

Make your collection available to other libraries

Learn how to add your custom collection to the global WorldCat knowledge base so all other Collection Manager libraries can select and use the collection's title data. See Cooperative management.

Add to global

Watch a video

Create WorldCat knowledge base collections

Run time: 12:02

This video demonstrates using WorldShare Collection Manager, as well as KBART files, to create knowledge base collections to add your e-journal, e-book collections or print serial collections not found in the global WorldCat knowledge base.