The WorldCat Knowledge base data and the central index data, along with your library holdings, make full-text linking possible. Add your knowledge base collection data in Collection Manager to set holdings for and connect patrons to your full-text e-resources in WorldCat Discovery.
If multiple titles across different collections have identical URLs and coverage information, then the knowledge base will de-duplicate these links within WorldCat Discovery.
Note: A limit of 50 WorldCat knowledge base links are returned in the Access Online section of WorldCat Discovery.
The knowledge base collections in Collection Manager correspond to the institution's coverage and will provide links in WorldCat Discovery to the selected titles contained within the collection.
The databases in the Metasearch Content module of the OCLC Service Configuration do not necessarily correspond directly with a knowledge base collection. The databases are metadata from the provider and are accessible in WorldCat Discovery via a central index of metadata from multiple content providers or via remote access from a subscription provider’s site. The content provider determines whether their database is represented in the central index or as a remote database.
Selecting collections in Collection Manager allows users to access links to the content. Selecting databases in the Metasearch Content module allows access to more metadata content that may surface the records for this content within WorldCat Discovery.
Items you have turned on in the knowledge base in Collection Manager that do not have OCLC numbers will still surface links in WorldCat Discovery. An OCLC number is required to output a MARC record and to set holdings in WorldCat. If an item does not have a holding in WorldCat and is not treated as held, this will influence how and where a title surfaces in search results in WorldCat Discovery.
Links will surface for items without OCLC numbers, but because holdings in WorldCat are not set, items might not be marked as held by your library. However, knowledge base titles with associated article citations in the central index will show as held by your library based upon ISSNs; Your library can opt to use full text coverage from the knowledge base to determine whether or not an article is held by your library.
When you perform a search, altering the scoping level (Libraries Worldwide, Your Library) and sort options (Best Match, Recency, Library, Most Widely Held, and so forth) can change how high up an item surfaces in Discovery search results because these options factor in held status.
In WorldCat Discovery, a button label will display to indicate full-text is available from the knowledge base. The button label is dependent on the format of the link.
See Full-text link display in WorldCat Discovery, Full-text link display names for a list of WorldCat knowledge base formats and the associated display names such as View eBook, View Now, and so forth.
Collections available in the WorldCat knowledge base - Updated monthly
Find a spreadsheet of all collections currently available in the WorldCat knowledge base and information about the collections including:
Refer to Collections available in the WorldCat knowledge base for additional information.
Note: The links may not appear if the record format in WorldCat Discovery does not match the format in WorldShare Collection Manager. For example, an eBook in Discovery will not display a journal's knowledge base link, even if it shares an OCLC number.
If you haven't already, configure institution settings and set holdings in WorldCat via the WorldShare Collection Manager interface. See Configure institution settings for knowledge base collections.
WorldShare Interlibrary Loan and Tipasa libraries: Make sure you have an appropriate deflection policy in place. See How to deflect lending requests (knowledge base collections) or, if you have a subscription to License Manager, see How to deflect lending requests (License Manager). Most libraries experience an immediate increase in lending requests after setting holdings in WorldCat.
Use the WorldCat Discovery, Display Order setting to change the default order of links patrons can see in the WorldCat Discovery interface. Follow these steps:
When your patrons view your WorldCat Discovery interface, if links are available from multiple sources, the links will appear in the sort order you specified.
Choose the appropriate instructions based on whether or not your content is searchable as a discrete database in WorldCat Discovery. If you are not currently providing OCLC with article level metadata and would like to do so, please contact our Publisher Relations team to initiate that conversation.
See which subscription databases you can add to your metasearch content. The spreadsheet includes target IDs and remote databases (for WorldShare Management Services and libraries with the option for remote database search).
Alternatively, see pre-filtered lists of the spreadsheet's content:
Refer to Available collections and databases for more information.
If you haven't selected the databases that will be available to search in your library's WorldCat Discovery interface, sign in to OCLC Service Configuration and add your databases. Include WorldCat.org in content searched by default.
Refer to Default Databaes and Licensed Content.
Refer to Full Text and Open Access Links, Primary Links for more information
After you enable the option in OCLC Service Configuration to enable full-text links, links will appear in your WorldCat Discovery interface. See Full-text link display in WorldCat Discovery for information about how and where your links will display.
To test your links:
To enable the "Report a broken link" form in your Discovery interface and see how to use it, see Full-text link display in WorldCat Discovery.
See Grouped OCLC Numbers in Title-level settings in knowledge base collections.