On Saturday evening June 23rd OCLC formally introduced World Cat Local to the library community. This small reception was a demonstration of the pilot that is in place at the University of Washington libraries and recognized the other pilot libraries. LTLS is taking the lead on this pilot in Illinois and there are LTLS libraries participating including the University of Illinois Library, Hoopston Public Library, Mattoon Public Library and Central High School Library in Champaign. The Illinois pilot will be up in August and we look forward to the comments and reactions to this exciting opportunity.
It is interesting to note that Karen Schneider, Free Range Librarian Blog, observed at a program of Do Libraries Innovate? that libraries really don't need multiple looks to the catalogs. Why not save our resources and have one look for all libraries and also make it easier for our users. World Cat Local is a step in that direction. Of course -- to achieve that will require all of us to "Work Together."
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