OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC,[1] is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs".[2] It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, then became the Online Computer Library Center as it expanded. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog (OPAC) in the world.[3] OCLC also maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system.
OCLC assigns a unique control number (referred to as an "OCN" for "OCLC Control Number") to each new bibliographic record in the WorldCat. Numbers are assigned serially, and as of mid-2013 over a billion OCNs had been created. The control numbers link WorldCat's records to local library system records by providing a common reference key for a record across libraries.[4]
This is a soft redirect, see OCLC (identifier).
References[edit]
- ↑ "Certificate of Amendment of the Amended Articles of Incorporation of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc". Ohio Secretary of State. June 26, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
- ↑ "About OCLC". OCLC. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- ↑ Oswald, Godfrey (2017). "Largest unified international library catalog". Library world records (3rd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 291. ISBN 9781476667775. OCLC 959650095.
- ↑ "OCLC Control Number". Retrieved 2014-01-03.
