Representative record and availability display on grouped search results

Representative record on grouped search results

In WorldCat Discovery if the search results are set to Group editions and formats or Hide duplicates, a representative record is determined for the group. Edition grouping brings records together that have the same:

• WorkID (title, author, format)
• Language of publication
• Sub-format (if applicable)
• Year of publication
• Publisher (first entry)

Variant records group records for the same edition which may have different languages of cataloging or may be duplicate records which have not yet been resolved.

 Note:  See Search Settings for information about enabling the Group related editions for search results and Group variant records filters. See Filter and refine search results for information about these filters in WorldCat Discovery search results. 

If Group related editions for search results is enabled and Hide duplicates is not configured to display, one representative record is used for each work.

• WorldCat Discovery will look at the following criteria in the order below to choose a representative record for the work group:
  • 1st priority: Held by level 1 > Held by level 2 > Held by level 3
  • 2nd priority: Most recent
  • 3rd priority: Language of cataloging matched from language of the user interface
    • The language setting for the user's browser or the language selected in the WorldCat Discovery interface is used to infer preferred language. 
  • 4th priority: Most widely held

If Group related editions for search results is disabled and Hide duplicates is not configured to display or is configured to display and enabled, one representative record is used for each edition.

• WorldCat Discovery will look at the following attributes in the order below to choose a representative record for the edition group:
  • 1st priority:Held by level 1 > Held by level 2 > Held by level 3
  • 2nd priority: Language of cataloging matched from language of the user interface
    • The language setting for the user's browser or the language selected in the WorldCat Discovery interface is used to infer preferred language. 
  • 3rd priority: Most widely held

 Note: Disabling the Hide duplicates filter when it is set to display will show a flat view or ungrouped view of the edition grouping.  The flat view shows all records in the search results and does not group by work, edition, duplicate, or language of cataloging. See Filter and refine search results for more information.

View all availability from the edition grouping

Enable the display of availability from the grouped editions when holdings have been set on records for different languages of cataloging for a given edition. Availability is configured to display from the OCLC number by default. To enable availability display from the edition grouping, see Search Settings.

When enabled, the representative record will display all the availability information from the records in the grouping.

 Note: This configuration will work best for WMS institutions that have Local Holdings Records in WorldCat. Non-WMS institutions can enable this new setting; however, It is recommended that you monitor availability performance and disable this configuration if the system slows or appears unable to support additional availability calls.

For example, additional availability information for a record of a different language of cataloging than the language of cataloging on the representative record will display. 

Level 1 edition availability:

Additionally, availability will also display for group availability at level two holdings.

 Note: Records for ebook and print books are not considered to be variant records. As such, print availability will not display on the eBook record even if the Display availability from the edition group setting is enabled in the Search Settings module of the OCLC Service Configuration.

• Find print availability for a book when related editions and formats are grouped:
  • Click Details for the print record under Other Editions and Formats at the library. A new page displays the full bibliographic record for the print book, including availability information.
  • Change the Default Grouping for Level 1 and Level 2 to Hide Duplicates in the Search Settings module of the OCLC Service Configuration. This prevents the print record from displaying in the search results when the user is viewing the ebook record. However, it will also prevent the user from seeing other print editions of the book, such as paperback and hardcover editions.