New OCLC report now available about online catalogs

The research report, “Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want”, came out recently. Authored by an OCLC research team headed by Karen Calhoun, Vice President, WorldCat and Metadata Services, the report presents findings about the data quality expectations of catalog end users and librarians.

From the news brief, the Online Catalogs report offers:

· Insight for readers seeking to define requirements for improved catalog data
· Information about the metadata elements that are most important to end users in determining if an item will meet his or her needs
· Support for the enhancements end users and librarians would like to see made in online library catalogs
· Insight into the end user’s discovery experience
· Findings for readers in areas associated with contributing, synchronizing or linking data from multiple sources in library catalogs and integrated library systems