WordCat has created a free app for Facebook users, making it easy for them to search WorldCat libraries and monitor favorite WorldCat lists right from their Facebook pages.  Search results are returned from WorldCat.org, which includes the collections of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.

The application includes a Home screen with WorldCat search box, as well as quick links to WorldCat searches based on personal interests a user has input in his or her Facebook profile.  Also included is tabbed access to:

• a built-in advanced WorldCat search
• a “Something to Read” panel that displays books recently added to other users’ WorldCat lists
• a panel where the user can invite other Facebook friends to install the WorldCat application

On a user’s Facebook profile page, the application adds a custom Facebook “box” with basic WorldCat search. The user can expand or collapse the box’s visibility, and reposition it to a preferred location by dragging its title bar.

The WorldCat app can be added either from the WorldCat plug-ins page or through a Facebook account directly from this link. 

WorldCat also has a blog aimed at end users. 

OCLC reports on a survey of the general public from six countries—Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, plus library directors from the U.S.  At issue in Sharing, Privacy and Trust in our Networked World were the values and social networking habits of library users.

The research explores social participation and cooperation on the Internet and how it may impact the library’s role, including:

• The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web
• How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues
• Opinions on privacy online
• Libraries’ current and future roles in social networking 

The complete 280 page report (PDF) may be downloaded here or you can get it in sections at the report site. 

OCLC and WebJunction announced at the ALA Conference recently that the Gates Foundation’s U.S. Libraries Initiative had awarded them a large grant. 

One of the grant’s goals is to ensure WebJunction’s self-sustainability within OCLC by strengthening its revenue-generating activities and creating additional services to assist all types of libraries. “The self-sustaining aspect is important,” OCLC’s Bob Murphy emphasized, “because we want WebJunction to continue on and on, and to be a place that library professionals can count on for their continuing education needs.”

Since its 2003 launch, WebJunction has garnered more than 29,000 registered members, and more than 300,000 unique users have visited the site.  [American Libraries]

WorldCat.org has announced a new feature that allows you to add individual items cataloged in WorldCat to personalized lists.  Users can group items owned by their library and other WorldCat libraries, and share their lists with friends, colleagues and millions of site users. 

WorldCat is the world’s largest network of library content and services.  It contains over 1 billion items in more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.

Users can build lists for a variety of purposes, such as books they want to recommend, research resources, best CDs, DVDs or videos, and more.

You can add any book, video, article or another item to a list right from its WorldCat record, or use the checkboxes and “Save to” button in WorldCat search results. Lists can then be shared with friends and other WorldCat users or left private.  The “Share” link lets a list author send an invitation via e-mail.

There are a number of other interesting and potentially useful features in this new service. All you need is an e-mail address to create a free WorldCat account. Try it out.

Two Google gadgets you may be interested in are now available.  The Worldcat search box can be incorporated within either your free personalized Google home page and/or your personal Web pages built with Google Page Creator.

The gadget lets you and your viewers search the collections of 10,000-plus libraries worldwide, then locate the desired resource at a nearby library.  If you already have a Google personalized home page, click the “add stuff” link at the far right of your page.  In the Google search bar that appears at the top, enter “worldcat” and follow the instructions.

The same process can be used to find eBay gadgets.  There are several to choose from and Google has rolled out an “official” eBay gadget for the Google personalized home page.  According to Steve Rubel, the gadget allows you to conduct in-line auction searches right off the Google home page.  You can also track your auctions - watching, bidding and won.  

If you don’t already have a Google personalized home page, you can create one, customizing it to your interests and needs with a growing variety of gadgets.

OCLC provided the instructions below on how to install the WorldCat Google Gadget on a personal Web page built with Google Page Creator:

• Visit pages.google.com and create an account or sign in.
• Create a new page, or enter Edit Page mode on an existing page.
• While in Edit Page mode, click the “Add Gadget” link at lower right.
• Click the “Add by URL” link in the popup pane, and enter
• http://worldcat.org/googlegadgets/worldcatsearch.xml
• Click on the WorldCat logo or “WorldCat Search” link; then click OK on the “You are about to add a feature that was not created by Google” dialog.
• Click OK in the Gadget Preview pane.
• Click and drag the WorldCat Gadget to the desired page location.
• Continue editing your page, or click the Publish button to post your new/revised personal Web page.

OCLC Research has updated its list of the top 1000 titles owned by member libraries — the intellectual works that have been judged to be worth owning by the “purchase vote” of libraries around the globe.  You can view the list by category. 

More than 57,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories around the world use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials.

A news release from OCLC Online Computer Library Center on November 6, 2006, announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded OCLC $1.2 million for development of a potential national marketing campaign to increase awareness of the value of libraries, and the need for support for libraries at local, state and national levels.

 View a PDF compilation of positive uses of social networking for teens from the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) blog.

Developed by Wayne State University LIS student Garrett Hungerford, this Library & Information Science search engine, LISZEN, searches the contents of more than 500 library and information science–related blogs.