WorldCat Discovery release notes, June 2021
Release Date: June 22, 2021
Introduction
This release of WorldCat Discovery provides a number of new features and enhancements to the modernized WorldCat Discovery interface, including:
- Availability configuration to either highlight copies at a single location or display a summary count of available copies and locations.
- Holdings summary for materials with multiple parts, volumes or issues displayed more prominently.
- Group Catalog holdings prominently displayed on item details.
- New link to locally held editions and formats in search results.
- Color configurations for the navigational bar and for visited/unvisited links.
Many of these enhancements are the direct result of your feedback. This release also includes numerous bug fixes.
Recommended actions
Availability configuration: Review your settings to either highlight copies at a single location or display a summary of available copies across multiple locations.
This setting can be found in OCLC Service Configuration: WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > Search Settings > Search Results Settings > Promote a single location.
Color configurations: Review these configuration options to ensure they are set as desired following the June release.
- Navigational bar
- Visited links
- Unvisited links
These configurations are in OCLC Service Configuration: WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > User Interface Options > Branding & Configuration.
New features and enhancements
Configure availability to highlight a single location or display an availability summary
For institutions with holdings spread over many branches that do not wish to favor one branch over another, the modernized WorldCat Discovery interface will now offer a configuration to allow library staff to promote a single location or display an availability summary. This functionality will display on search results, local editions and formats, shelf browse, and on the item details page in the Access Options panel.
This setting can be found in OCLC Service Configuration: WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Loca l> Search Settings > Search Results Settings > Promote a single location.
This setting will be enabled by default. When the setting is enabled, the modernized interface displays the first available item as displayed in the image below.
When this setting is disabled, users searching the WorldCat Discovery’s modernized interface will always see the availability summary when items exist at more than one location held by their local institution.
Please note: When this setting is disabled, if there is only one location present for the record, the modernized interface will display that location’s first available item rather than a summary in order to help the user quickly understand the item is only available at that single location.
Local Holding Records holdings summary will display alongside availability when present
WorldCat Discovery users viewing records with multiple parts, volumes or issues can now see the unique holdings summary on search results, local editions and formats, shelf browse and the Access Options panel on item details to quickly help them understand which items their library holds. This is shown in the images below.
Search results:
Access Panel:
The holdings summary will display when a unique holdings summary has been entered in Connexion or WorldShare Record Manager individually or by data loads, or built using the automated holdings summary feature in WorldShare Record Manager to describe the contents of the local holdings record/s.
If the holdings summary exceeds one line, where availability displays on search results and item details, users will see a truncated display followed by an ellipsis.
Group Catalog holdings display prominently on item details in the modernized Discovery interface
The Group Catalog item details display has been modified so availability/holding information for libraries in the group catalog scope is now embedded in the main item details page. This has been moved from the Libraries Worldwide holdings drawer, making it easier for users of the group catalog to identify holding libraries for each item. This change was made in collaboration with administrators of Group Catalogs on WorldCat Discovery.
When users navigate to item details, they will see group information displayed under metadata details as in the following image.
New link to locally held editions and formats in search results
We have added information about the local editions and formats for an item even if this information is not promoted on the search results. Today we promote only formats that differ from the representative record in the local editions and formats section, when applicable. A new link will display a count of all local editions and lead to the editions and formats drawer which shows all editions available locally, within the group, and from libraries worldwide. This will show WorldCat Discovery users other items held by their institution regardless of the representative edition or format.
Color configuration for navigational bar and visited/unvisited links now available for modernized interface
Navigation bar
If you have a custom color configured for the navigational bar in the current interface, it will now be applied on the modernized interface following the June release. Prior to the June release, this configuration was not available in the modernized interface – the color was programmatically set based on the color in the header.
If you do not have a custom color configured for the navigational bar, you will now be able to configure the color to display in modernized WorldCat Discovery interface.
Visited/Unvisited links
Following the June release, the modernized Discovery interface will also honor your configured colors for visited and unvisited links. Prior to the June release, this configuration was not available in the modernized interface – the color was programmatically set based on the color of your Search and fulfillment buttons.
If you do not have custom colors configured for visited and unvisited links, you will now be able to configure these colors to display in modernized WorldCat Discovery interface.
Unvisited links:
Visited title link:
We recommend that you review these configuration options to ensure they set as desired following the June release.
All of these color configurations are in OCLC Service Configuration: WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > User Interface Options > Branding & Configuration.
For WorldShare Management Services libraries, the color selections described above will also be applied to My Account. For additional details, please review My Account release notes, June 2021.
Updated OCLC Customer Support contact information on WorldCat Discovery’s feedback form
To better support our global members, we have updated the feedback form to connect with the best customer support methods for your region. When you have enabled the feature to report feedback regarding the WorldCat Discovery website in OCLC Service Configuration: WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > ILS Support and Maintenance > User Suppor t> Feedback form, you will now see a link to the OCLC Customer support page rather than the US-based toll-free number, as in the image below.
Improved anchored paging on item details availability in modernized WorldCat Discovery
When library users navigate to the detailed view of a record with multiple pages of items, paging through the item availability table will take the user to the top of the next section of the table, as shown in the image below. Prior to this release, when paging through item details users would be anchored at the bottom of the table each time they paged through items, creating an undesirable focus for users browsing the table in sequence.
Bug fixes
Holdings summary exceeding one line will be truncated for better display
Institutions reported an issue with lengthy holdings summary statements that were not displaying properly. This release addresses this issue, so the summary is now truncated after three lines in the search results and one line in the Access Options panel, followed by an ellipsis.
New content
This is a list of new databases added to WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.org since our last update.
You can enable these databases as search options in the Licensed Content and Databases module of OCLC Service Configuration. Please remember that your library must have a valid subscription to these databases in order to enable them.
Below is a list of new database names and providers for reference. The complete list of databases is available here.
Available in WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.org
- From Alexander Street
- BBC: Britain at War - A collection of video looking at Britain through a century of wartime conflicts. Beginning with WWI and spanning all the way through recent conflicts, such as Afghanistan, this resource will provide students with a sweeping, historical look at BBC’s unparalleled coverage of these events.
- BBC: Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000, edited by Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Rebecca Plant, 2021 Edition - The database brings together innovative scholarship, primary documents, books, images, essays, book and website reviews, teaching tools, and more.
Important links
Support websites
Support information for this product and related products can be found at:
Include Request ID with problem reports
When reporting an issue with WorldCat Discovery, it is extremely helpful to include the Request ID. The Request ID is found at the bottom of the screen on which the issue occurred. Including this information allows us to directly trace what happened on the request we are troubleshooting.