OCLC has upgraded its WorldCat Local and WorldCat.org interfaces to increase access to all of the e-resource services it offers. The new, more unified search will include content from FirstSearch, NetLibrary, Electronic Collections Online, ArchiveGrid, and the Catalog of Art Museum Images Online (CAMIO). According to OCLC, the end goal is to make WorldCat.org and the variations of WorldCat Local “the primary interface to these services.” The standard interfaces will remain at least through 2011 to ensure a smooth transition.

These are just a few of the many services and resources OCLC has added to WorldCat Local in recent months as it vies with the spate of other recently developed aggregate index tools, like Primo Central from Ex Libris, Summon from Serials Solutions, and the EBSCO Discovery Service.

In a related move, OCLC also announced its WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway in July. This service—offered free to CONTENTdm subscribers—is meant to give institutions an easy way to make their digital collections more findable online, exposed to as many potential end users as possible. In addition, by making this content available through the WorldCat interface as well as easily indexable by external search engines, OCLC is positioning WorldCat as an intermediary distribution hub not just for bibliographic data but for individual digital collection metadata as well.