Manage broken link reports from WorldCat Discovery
Enable "Report a broken link" and receive emails.
Note: Find instructions toReceive broken link emails
About the emails
Email messages generated by use of the "Report a broken link" form come from do-not-reply@e.worldcat.org. When you receive a "broken link" email, a patron or library staff member was unable to access a full-text resource.
Examples of errant link behavior:
- A link resolves to:
- An error page; It fails to load
- The wrong resource. For example, to:
- An incorrect item with a similar title
- An item from a different year
- A print book instead of an eBook
- A journal landing page instead of to an article
- An item you do not own
Finding configuration errors is one of the primary benefits of enabling the "Report a broken link" form in WorldCat Discovery.
Plan to follow-up with your patron
The subject line of the email generated from the "Report a broken link" form will be one of the following:
- Follow-Up Requested: Broken Link Report from [Name]
- No Follow-Up Requested: Broken Link Report
If the person who completed the form left "Request librarian assistance" selected, the subject line will include "Follow-Up Requested." You can use the contact information to follow-up with the person after you address the issue causing an errant link.
OCLC will not receive broken link emails and will not automatically provide feedback or fix errant links. Once you review your library's configuration, if you need assistance, report the broken link to OCLC. OCLC will work with your library and does not need patron information.
Review your library's configuration
Check your institution settings
Verify settings in the WorldShare interface, Metadata > Collection Manager > Institution Settings.
Proxy settings
Provider settings
Make sure the correct collection is selected
- Examine the email and collect the data you need to search for the knowledge base collection and title in Collection Manager.
- Search in Collection Manager. See Tips for using the search field.
- Verify that the correct collection and title is selected in the knowledge base.
Report the broken link to OCLC
If an errant link is not caused by a configuration error, you can report the errant link so that OCLC can correct the issue.
Cooperative options for fixing errant links
Many errant link issues need to be reported to OCLC in order for a correction to benefit all knowledge base users. However, you might have the option to edit knowledge base title data in Collection Manager and submit the enhancements to the global cooperative. If interested in exploring cooperative options, follow the recommendations below.
Edit URLs in global collections
A "broken link" in WorldCat Discovery is only sometimes caused by an erroneous URL or Linking Key. When there is a problem with a title-level URL or Linking Key in a provider-supplied collection, the best practice is to report the issue to OCLC Support. However, you can make edits to URLs in cooperative collections and submit them to the cooperative.
Cooperative (global.) collections
- It is likely that you will be able to edit errant Title URLs and Linking Keys in a cooperative collection.
Cooperative collections are collections created by libraries that have been submitted to the cooperative. You can identify a cooperative collection by its collection ID. When a library creates a collection locally, the collection has customer. at the beginning of its collection ID. When the library submits the collection to the cooperative, it becomes a cooperative collection and has global. at the beginning of its collection ID.
Provider-supplied collections
- You will not be able to edit an errant Title URL in a provider-supplied collection for the global cooperative. Errant URLs should be reported to OCLC Support so that OCLC can correct the issue in a way that is relevant for all libraries.
Provider-supplied collections are knowledge base collections that are loaded and updated by OCLC with data from providers. A provider-supplied collection can be identified by expanding the collection's Activity History accordion and looking for: Source: OCLC, Online Computer Library Center
Focus on other title-level data
A "broken link" in WorldCat Discovery is only sometimes caused by an erroneous URL or Linking Key. Often, missing or incorrect title-level data in the knowledge base causes erroneous associations with WorldCat records as items are surfaced in WorldCat Discovery. Therefore, we recommend that you focus on enhancing title-level knowledge base data.
For more information, see Best practices for cooperative edits.
Additional information
See How to update title information for instructions on submitting edits to the global cooperative.
After you save edits made in knowledge base title fields, any due changes in WorldCat Discovery will be visible after processing. Processing time varies but is not instant. Changes are often visible by the following day.
Once you submit your edits to the cooperative, your edits will be loaded to the global knowledge base.