Amazing Worldcat.org Database Locates Books, CDs, Videos in Nearest Library! Will You Buy or Will You Borrow? Pioneering Librarian, Frederick G Kilgour, Dead at 92
You and I owe Frederick G. Kilgour a big THANK YOU. Because of this recently deceased librarian’s pioneering work, just a few days ago we became able to go directly to www.worldcat.org and locate the library closest to home or office that has any given book, CD or video we would like to checkout, download or view directly, even if the closest copy is 1000 miles away––or even a continent away. It’s that simple! All we have to do is type in the name of the book, CD or video AND our ZIP code. The library network we tap into links 55,000 institutions in 110 countries!
It works. I tried it! I typed in the title of one of my old, out-of-print books. Worldcat reported one copy in a library about 20 miles from where I am right now. There were no copies in my local branch of the library. Interestingly, there were copies in other languages in other countries. Yes, it’s the magic of computers once again! The intra-state library database has gone global.
Let’s Go Worldcatting!
Take a trip to http://www.worldcat.org/ before you hike or drive over to Barnes & Noble, Borders or Books-a-Million, or click on amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com and part with cold, hard cash. Support your local library. Whoops, global library! (And think: FREE!)
What this capability means is that the reading, listening, viewing public can find long-lost books and out-of-print books, as well as recently released books, CDs and videos just acquired by libraries, simply with a click. You and I should say we are sorry and rekindle our relationship with our old friend—the library—if we’ve been disloyal.
How will these books, CDs and videos be delivered from far away places? My first thought was that the global lending library would ramp up. But wait! Maybe I am wrong. Maybe it won’t have to ramp at all as we define ramping.
Worldcat and Google?
I’ll bet Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, are worldcatting right now as they conjure up ways to integrate the Google Book Search Library Project into Frederick G. Kilgour’s network so that content can be made available, again with a click. No postage necessary!
A few more words about Frederick G. Kilgour, who said “wild things.”
I think he might have been a distant, long-lost relative of Larry Page or Sergey Brin. It certainly sounds like Kilgour had the big idea—a Google-like idea—long before the two 33-year-olds switched over from Pampers to Mickey Mouse jockey shorts. What a guy that Kilgour was:
On August 3, 2006, Jay Jordon, OCLC president and CEO, said in a press release, “Fred Kilgour lived a rich life that was full of accomplishment. His vision continues to influence the evolution of research, scholarship, and education in the digital age. Librarian Jeffrey Beall, who studied with Kilgour said, “Anyone who ever heard Mr. Kilgour speak knows he said a lot of really wild things. Eventually, I figured out why he spoke the nonsense. I realized he didn’t really believe every ridiculous thing he said, he just wanted to stir people up out of their complacency. It was his way of making librarianship better by challenging librarians to defend what they were doing and by making them see the profession from a radically different view. Fred Kilgour is the Melvil Dewey of the 20th century.” [Founder of the American Library Association and inventor of the Dewey Decimal System. You remember the Dewey Decimal System, which seemed to be replaced by The Library of Congress Classification System?]
Sounds a lot like Mr. Kilgour had a bit of the crank in him. Thank goodness for that. One man’s crank is another man’s visionary.
In 1998, when he was 84-years-old, his book, “The Evolution of the Book,” was published by Oxford University Press. Worldcat it and, as the New York Times noted in its obit on August 2, 2006, you’ll find the book on the shelves of more than 500 libraries in the US as well as libraries in other countries, including the Netherlands, Singapore, and Iceland.
Thank you Frederick G. Kilgour.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): By popular demand, I’ve added a feature to my 4-Step Get Published Program.You can now choose from an ala carte menu of consulting services: 1) Query Letter Review & Edit, 2) Synopsis Review & Edit, 3) First Chapter Review & Edit or 4) Literary Agent & Editor Selection. Prices are listed. Click on the link above or the Wicked Witch pentagram in the right-hand sidebar.
August 28th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Today I came across an additional vehicle for delivering free books to readers–while compensating publishers and writers.
http://www.WOWIO.com offers downloadable books for free to subscribers. Apparently WOWIO compensates participating publishers with a portion of its website’s ad revenue. Public domain books appear in their library, but they clearly also offer copyrighted material.
I can easily picture audiobook editions being offered through this “library”. What a waste that more publishers don’t take advantage of new, inexpensive audio production methods and offer more audio books! In under a week, with a $100 microphone, a quiet room and my iBook, I could create a good-quality audio edition of my own book. A service like this would be a possible way for my publisher to sell it.
I’m drawn towards arrangements where everyone wins. On the topic of libraries, I’ll note that Canadian authors are compensated directly, each year, by the Public Lending Right Commission, a government agency, based upon the quantity of their books held by Canadian libraries. We need to do this in the US.
August 28th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Worldcat is neat and yummie! Kilgour rules.
August 28th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Cool site. And, have a look at what Google was claiming on their official blog just a few days ago…or maybe they’ve already hacked…oops, I mean, linked into WorldCat. Link.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Dave, I googled like mad to see if there was any reference on
Google’s part to Worldcat.com. I couldn’t find it. That said, I think what has happened is that other search engines, including Google, have been providing access to a more primative version of worldcat, but worldcat.com is now allowing us to “go direct” through worldcat itself, and has greatly expanded its capabilities. Does anyone know if I am correct? If I am, Google is not giving credit where credit is due, and keeping rather quiet about it all.
August 28th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Quite impressive, actually. I ran Drury’s ‘Advise and Consent’ and it corresponded exactly with what I found this morning in my library’s catalogue. I’m not quite sure what to do when a book I want is in Bangladesh, but I added Wordcat to my Favorites so I can explore it more. Thank you, Your Wickedness (and Mr. Kilgour, of course).
As for it saving you from driving down to the esteemed Bahnes and No-bell, I buy my book through all the little discount vendors that are on line or (2) the used book stores or (3) preferably at the library. I’m tired of spending premium dollars on the tripe coming out today. Given what’s on the market and the innovative ways the internet gives to save, no one should pay more than a few dollars and shipping for a ghastly $25 “book.” But of course, why get the ghastly book in the first place…back to Allen Drury…
The ultimate answer is that the upcoming generation can’t read anyway, so perhaps we’re all spinning our wheels. I’m getting old and cranky.
August 28th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Lynne-
World cat is the coolest thing since sliced bread! I put a shortcut on my desktop and then went crazy.
First I looked up a book (series) that was the first story to sweep me away as a child. Sure enough, there it was: “Silver Chief Dog of the North” by Jack O’Brien. I can still see the blowing snow and feel the arctic cold as the young man seeks to befriend Silver Chief, a wolf hybird shunned by his pack. I was stunned to see that the book was written in 1933. I always believed, in my child’s mind, that the author was as young as the protagonist, or at least as young as my father.
After that, I plugged in one of my recent favorites, Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go.” Over 1600 libraries within driving, flying or mushing distance of my house carry it. But then I discovered that over 2000 carry James Frey’s debacle. Ugh to that!
Despite that disappointment, that comparison inspired an epiphany. Maybe I could use Worldcat — in the roughest sense — to compare the sales of one book to another. After all, statisticians use very small samples to predict outcomes like the presidency. If I stuck with, say, literary fiction from the last two years, would I be able to see how one book faired against another — sort of like a mini, and not very accurate — but FREE! — version of Bookscan?
I know I have to narrow down my parameters first, but I think this is gonna’ be fun. I’ll let you know if my little experiment succeeds.
August 29th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Very soon I’m not going to have to move out of my chair for anything - yikes!!
August 29th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Worldcat is great. Typed in several book titles, and was pleased to see that my father’s out-of-print books are in many libraries across the country, including the NY Public Library.
I’m glad you’re spreading the word about the site, and it is fun to use, but will people actually use this site beyond exporing it for the first time? It seems to me that most people looking for a title to check out would look on their own library’s Web site first. They could then turn to Worldcat next. But I doubt that Wordcat would be their first choice.
Still, it’s a brilliant idea, well executed. Thanks, Wicked Witch.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Lynne:
It’s great that you’re letting folks know about Kilgour and Worldcat. The latter is a tremendous service for writers and researchers . . . especially those with limited funds! I’ll have to look for my books . . . though I may be disheartened to find out our farflung they might be. Great job.
Tom
August 29th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Katy Gurley wrote, “It seems to me that most people looking for a title to check out would look on their own library’s Web site first.”
Right you are, Katy. I’v been doing this with the Los Angeles Public Library since the early ’90s.
The worldcat thingy is one of those inventions that have a high wow factor but will have little practical application. I’ve discovered certain books that I was desperately searching for years ago in university libraries in other states, but those libraries wouldn’t permit an interlibrary loan. Therein lies the rub.
It won’t help me to know that a branch of the Nevada public library happens to shelve a book I’ve been searching for if I can’t get my hands on it.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Well, up to now checking your state libraries via computer was the ONLY efficient way to track down a book and get it moved to a library close to you if necessary. With a global program, delivery does seem to be the bugaboo. Perhaps we are heading for digital delivery? I have heard from the OCLC people and am looking forward to their response to my question in Dave Newton’s comment. I think they’ll give us some answers to the access and delivery question.
August 29th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
No wonder Kilgour lived till 92, an active mind surely contributing to his longevity. What an achievement inventing Worldcat. Brilliant!
Nevertheless, I agree with your other correspondents that easy delivery from say, remote Himalayan former kingdoms, may be wanting in the breach, but the information quotient is invaluable.
August 29th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Hello from the land of WorldCat and, by extension, OCLC and Mr. Kilgour. I can clarify the relationship between WorldCat and Google for you…plus anything else you want to talk about!
But first, to explain relationship of WorldCat to OCLC: WorldCat is the world’s most comprehensive bibliographic database of more than 1.3 billion items, built cooperatively by 58,000 libraries (and librarians) around the world. OCLC, as the world’s largest library cooperative, is the steward of WorldCat.
OCLC entered into a partnership with Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com and a few others (see more at http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/partnersites/default.htm) to syndicate WorldCat results into standard Web searches. You can see it at work when you preface a Google or Yahoo search with the words, “Find in a Library:” . You can also use the right-hand side boxes on this page, http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/default.htm.
The thinking here is that people are first looking online for information, and we (as librarians in general and OCLC in specific) want to deliver that information through channels that people already use. Like Google or Yahoo.
So when you “Google” for something, if there is a relevant title in a library, you are likely also “WorldCatting” on the sly. It’s a both-and-one situation–WorldCat results come up in Google AND they’re available through WorldCat.org. The idea is to suprise and delight, prompting the library as an additional “information fulfillment” option.
The other thing I want to tell you is that OCLC has some super cool things in the works for delivery of these WorldCat materials. Wherever they live, wherever you live. Of course I personally as a library user would love to have all content digitized and able to be served up instantly. But as the Wicked Witch of Publishing will attest, copyright issues and authentication are still catching up with the digital freedom we all yearn for…
To Peter, I would say I’m sorry that you had an unsatisfying interlibrary loan experience. OCLC is working hard to make interlibrary loan easier for searchers and more cost-effective for libraries. And even then sometimes, there are some materials that are not allowed out of the physical library, even if the Queen herself requested them. What I would tell you is to make sure LAPL hears your request and understands that you’d like to use more of their services. Libraries everywhere are turning the corner to be much more user-centric than ever before. WorldCat.org is meant to be another step in that direction!
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Thanks, Alice, for stopping by and answering my question. (And to you Naysayers, I say, let’s give it six months and see what happens re the delivery.)
August 30th, 2006 at 10:22 am
I think that worldcat.com will increase traffic, digital and foot, to local libraries. I know it will get me there more often. (I drop by to read back issues of Publishers Weekly.)
I still like to patronize my local, independent bookstore, and will continue my impulse buying there. I just dropped in a few days ago and picked up Kim Edward’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. (Interesting enough to have finished in three evenings.)
Of course, in New York City, it’s Barnes & Noble if I am passing by. (You know, now that I think about it, there is a small, underutilized library near me that I have virtually forgotten about.)
Peter, Katy, Maralyn, I think you are wrong. I sense a lot of worldcatting in my future.
My biggest problem is determining which books to spend my time reading. There are too many from which to choose.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:31 am
So, in effect, the inter-library loan system has gone global and civilian?
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Bernita is from Ontario, Canada. Her blog,”An Innocent A-Blog—Journal of a Barely Post-Luddite Miranda,” is very funny. Check out her latest post: Seven, Eight—Lay Them Straight.
September 1st, 2006 at 12:56 pm
From the Wall Street Journal August 31, 2006:
“Google Offers Book Downloads” — by Riva Richmond
Google, Inc. consumers can now download PDF files and print free of charge classic novels and other more obscure books that are in the public domain.
Heretofore, you could read, but you couldn’t download or print.
This sounds great, but we are facing the same old problem(s). Books are too expensive to print out and computer screens are a misery from which to read a book. Now if someone will hurry up and invent something that makes it possible to read the download in the comfort of any room in the house, when sunbathing at the beach, or while waiting for a train, I’d be cartwheeling.
Is anyone using anything that works well?
Lynne
September 8th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Dear me, that’s very kind of you, Not-So-Wicked Witch.
September 29th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
I just met the “Wicked Witch” at her local public library. (She seems far too nice to call herself a witch.)
Most public libraries offer inter-library loan services. Public libraries are very egalitarian and willingly loan books back and forth freely. So, even if you are on an island in the middle of a lake [Halsey Island!] and need a book we’ll get it for you no matter where it is. And some librarians will even deliver it to that island. However, we prefer bookmobiles to broomsticks.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Seth Stephens is the Dirctor of the Jefferson Township Public Library, Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey. I had to drive through what I call “bear country” to get there! I chatted with Seth about locating local authors and having a get together in the spring.