OCLC and Yahoo! Offer Joint Toolbar

OCLC and Yahoo! Offer Joint Toolbar

"November 15, 2004 — Today, OCLC (http://www.oclc.org) and Yahoo! officially launch a free co-branded toolbar that provides one-click access to Open WorldCat as well as Yahoo! Search’s Web search engine. The free toolbar plugs into Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. A whirligig OCLC logo to the extreme left on the toolbar clicks to a subset of Open WorldCat (currently 2 million of the 57 million records available in the full WorldCat, reflecting the holdings of some 9,000 libraries). In time, the click-through will access more—perhaps all—of the WorldCat database, as Yahoo! begins to 'harvest' the full file now offered by OCLC. The new toolbar also supports access to other OCLC database services, such as FirstSearch and netLibrary, for those using the toolbar via library networks. [See NewsBreaks: 'All of OCLC’s WorldCat Heading Toward the Open Web,' http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb041011-2.shtml and 'Yahoo! Search Joins OCLC Open WorldCat Project,' http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb040706-2.shtml.]

The new toolbar continues to expand OCLC’s Web-targeted initiatives to increase the online visibility of library collections.