WorldCat Discovery release notes, 29 April 2025

Introduction

This release of WorldCat Discovery includes the following enhancements:

• Leverage a modernized Advanced Search experience (voluntary rollover)
• Display subject headings from additional vocabularies
• Discover peer-reviewed content faster with a relevancy boost

Many of these enhancements are the direct result of your feedback.

New features and enhancements

Overview

With the April release, libraries can choose to enable the redesigned Advanced Search interface for end users. Library staff can enable the new interface through a configuration toggle in Service Configuration. This is a voluntary rollout, and the toggle can be turned off at any time to revert to the classic Advanced Search experience. This release also includes additional configuration options to customize the modernized Advanced Search experience for users.

If you'd like to explore the redesigned Advanced Search page before enabling it for your users, you can access a preview using the following URL format:
    https://[LibraryPrefix].on.worldcat.org/discoveryPreview

Replace [LibraryPrefix] with your institution’s unique prefix to view the page in preview mode.

The redesigned Advanced Search was developed with research students, library staff, and expert users in mind—those who rely on complex searches to find the most relevant materials quickly and efficiently. It provides a clearer, more flexible way to refine complex searches and move easily between search results and Advanced Search options.
 

Details

The redesigned Advanced Search offers a cleaner, more intuitive experience that makes it easier for users to build and refine complex searches. It also introduces several configuration options, giving libraries greater control over how the page appears and functions for their users.

With these enhancements, users can now:

• Experience a modern, responsive, and accessible interface with improved navigation, tabbing, and screen reader compatibility
• Build and modify complex queries more easily without needing to start over
• Apply filters that persist when moving between search results and Advanced Search
• Use a broader set of search indexes and limiters tailored to the databases selected
• Easily manage selected databases with clearer visibility into current selections, full database names, and descriptions
• Filter results more precisely by selecting multiple values for format, content type, and language
• Choose a sort order for results directly from the Advanced Search page
• Search without seeing the database selector when only one default database is configured

New configuration options allow libraries to:

• Set the default search indexes used on the Advanced Search page
• Promote up to five search indexes to appear at the top of the dropdown for easier access
• Set the default sort order for Advanced Search results
• Customize the page title for the Advanced Search page
• Configure the default order of values in the format filter

 Visit Redesigned Advanced Search for additional information and workflows.

Configuration

The redesigned Advanced Search page can be enabled in Service Configuration > WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > Search Settings > Advanced Search Settings. When the toggle is enabled, library staff can apply five configuration settings to customize the redesigned Advanced Search experience.

1. Advanced Search sort order

Institutions can define the default sort order on the Advanced Search page. Users may change the sort order when executing a search from Advanced Search or from the search results page. The default sort order for basic search or the search box generator will not be impacted by this setting.

Advanced Search sort order configuration setting:

Advanced Search sort order display:

2. Advanced Search display text

Institutions can select “Use custom text” to display a custom page title—up to 35 characters—on the Advanced Search page and in the global header.

Note: Translations must be added manually when using a custom title.

Advanced search display text configuration setting:

Advanced Search display text:

Note: The custom title will not appear in the header or footer of the My Account page. This issue will be resolved with the May release.

3. Advanced Search default search indexes

Institutions can now select up to three default indexes for the Advanced Search page. They can also set a default index for any additional search boxes added by the user. Users can add up to seven additional rows, for a total of 10 search boxes.

Note: The drop-down menus in Service Configuration display all available indexes. However, the indexes that appear to users on the Advanced Search page depend on the selected databases. A future enhancement will allow library staff to view and select only the indexes supported by the selected default database(s). If a configured index is not supported by the selected databases, the system will default to “Keyword.”

Advanced Search default search indexes configuration setting:

Advanced Search default search indexes display:

4. Advanced Search recommended indexes

Libraries can promote up to five indexes to appear at the top of the index drop-down list on the Advanced Search page, giving users quicker access to recommended options.

As with the default search index setting, all indexes are available for selection in Service Configuration. However, only indexes supported by the selected databases will be visible to end users. When configuring recommended indexes, the number of databases that support each index will appear beneath the index name.

Advanced Search recommended indexes configuration setting:

Advanced Search recommended indexes display:

5. Advanced Search format order

Libraries can now customize the display order of values in the format filter, allowing staff to prioritize the formats most frequently used by their users.

Note: Sub-formats can’t be re-ordered.

Advanced Search format order configuration setting:

Advanced Search format order display:

 Visit Search Settings, Advanced search settings for additional information and workflows.

Overview

Libraries can now display the latest subject heading and genre/form vocabulary codes in WorldCat Discovery, ensuring access to the most up-to-date classifications. This update expands the available vocabularies, allowing institutions to incorporate newly added subject and genre terms into their Discovery experience.

Details

The following subject heading and genre/form vocabulary codes are now available:

Configuration

By default, no changes will be made to existing display settings. Libraries can enable new vocabulary codes as needed. This feature can be managed in Service Configuration: WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat Local > Item Detail Settings > Select Data Sources

1. Expand the Select data sources section.
2. Select the Subject Heading Vocabularies tab.
3. Check Other Source and Select specific sources to browse and enable available vocabularies.
4. To adjust the display order, navigate to Reorder data fields and drag and drop vocabulary sources within the Subjects field configuration section.

New Content

This is a list of new databases added to WorldCat Discovery and WorldCat.org since our last update.

You can enable these databases as search options in the Licensed Content and Databases module of OCLC Service Configuration. Please remember that your library must have a valid subscription to these databases in order to enable them.

Below is a list of new database names and providers for reference. The complete list of databases is available at http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/worldcat-discovery/contentlist.xls

From Alexander Street

Dance Online: Dance in Video, Volume 4: The Dancio Collection - The fourth volume of Dance Online, in collaboration with Dancio, showcases an exceptional catalog of world-class professional instructors. Classes are tailored to the needs of all levels from beginners to seasoned dancers covering an array of diverse dance style ranging from ballet to contemporary. These expertly produced instructional titles provide detailed classes recorded in well-lit, distraction-free studios. Each class is meticulously described by a seasoned dance writer, ensuring clarity and relevance to enable students to grasp the subtle nuances of movement, posture, and expression.

Global Issues: Aging in the Modern World (Text) - Aging in the Modern World provides a rich exploration of global aging complexities, offering diverse cultural perspectives, personal narratives, and scholarly insights from 1900 to 2020.

Global Issues: Aging in the Modern World (Video) - Canada - Aging in the Modern World provides a rich, multi-media exploration of global aging complexities, offering diverse cultural perspectives, personal narratives, and scholarly insights from 1900 to 2020.

Global Issues: Aging in the Modern World (Video) - Outside North America - Aging in the Modern World provides a rich, multi-media exploration of global aging complexities, offering diverse cultural perspectives, personal narratives, and scholarly insights from 1900 to 2020.

Global Issues: Aging in the Modern World (Video) - United States - Aging in the Modern World provides a rich, multi-media exploration of global aging complexities, offering diverse cultural perspectives, personal narratives, and scholarly insights from 1900 to 2020.

Music Online: Classical Music in Video, Volume 3 - Music Online: Classical Music in Video, Volume III continues to expand the Classical Scores Library with musical compositions predominantly from the Baroque to Romantic periods, featuring a curated selection of performances and documentaries from esteemed video partners. This collection highlights the progression of classical music, encompassing masterpieces from renowned composers performed by world-class artists.

Music Online: Classical Scores Library, Volume 6: The Boosey & Hawkes Collection - This database presents masterpieces from one of the world's most esteemed classical music publishers. This partnership with Boosey & Hawkes, renowned for their extensive industry influence, grants a rich catalog featuring revered masterpieces by classical and contemporary maestros, providing music scholars with rich resources for performance and study.

Music Online: The Qwest TV Collection, Volume 2 - This database provides access to titles that explore jazz’s influence during the 21st century. Experience live performances from jazz legends, contemporary innovators, and world music artists. Explore captivating documentaries, and insightful interviews spanning soul, funk, hip-hop, rock, folk, electronic, and global genres.

Popular Culture Studies in Video - Covers a wide array of pop culture topics, incorporating documentaries on films, television, fashion, comics, and gaming. It spotlights influential figures across the fields of entertainment, art, sports and cultural spheres. The collection enriches studies in cinema, television, history, and cultural studies.

Qwest TV EDU - All Titles - This database provides access to a vast and growing archive of Black music and global sounds through live performances, documentaries, and interviews spanning diverse musical genres, from around the world.

Qwest TV EDU - China - This database provides access to a vast and growing archive of Black music and global sounds through live performances, documentaries, and interviews spanning diverse musical genres, from around the world.

Slavic and Eastern European Studies in Video - This database offers a resource for scholars to gain insights into Eastern Europe's history, culture, and contemporary landscape, by providing an exploration of pivotal moments that have shaped these countries, encompassing political upheavals, wars, and geopolitical shifts.

Teletherapy Skills in Video: A Symptom Media Collection - A collection of video case studies and the current best practices on conducting teletherapy ideal for counseling, psychology, social work, medical, nursing, psychiatry and other behavioral health care courses that helps students better recognize mental health disorders and provide accurate diagnoses via mental health videos aligned to DSM-5-TR/ICD 10 content.

The Black Panther Newspaper - Considered the official newspaper of the Black Panther Party, it distributed information about the party's activities and ideologies, focusing on both international revolutions as inspiration and contemporary racial struggles of African Americans across the United States.

Theatre in Context Collection (Audio) - O’Dell’s Annals of the New York Stage, the Oxford University Press Companion series, and Greenwood’s American Theatre Companies series are just a few of the many in-copyright sources included in the Theatre in Context Collection. Placed alongside thousands of playbills, posters, photographs, and related theatrical ephemera, users will be able to paint a more comprehensive picture of the life and evolution of dramatic works.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000, edited by Rebecca Plant, 2024 Edition - The database brings together innovative scholarship, primary documents, books, images, essays, book and website reviews, teaching tools, and more.

World Events and the Media - World Events and the Media provides insights into journalism's evolution and its pivotal role in shaping our perception and understanding of world events. Through firsthand accounts, memoirs, and archival records, this collection offers insights into investigative journalism, crisis reporting, war coverage, social movements, and the impact of technological advancements on media, shedding light on the transformative shifts within the profession both during and after critical historical events.

Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels: Volume 3, The Modern Age - The third volume provides contemporary primary sources for comic studies research focusing on the Modern Age of comics from 1986 to the present. It examines trends and developments particular to the Modern Age of comics in North America — digital creation tools, innovative shifts in art and narratives, and the rise of independent publishing houses and diverse voices.

From Bristol University Press

Bristol University Press - International scholarship in the social sciences and aligned disciplines, with a focus on global social challenges.

From McGraw-Hill Education

AccessWorldMed - Curated content from AccessMedicine aligned to local curricula and practices, including cases browsable by region and topic.

From Oxford University Press

Business Trove - Business Trove provides seamless access to around 45 OUP textbooks, many enriched with additional learning materials, for a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes offered within Business Schools.

Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International - Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC INTERNATIONAL (OMA) is a comprehensive and reliable collection of chemical and microbiological methods and consensus standards.

Science Trove - Science Trove is a single destination that provides online access to science textbooks from Oxford University Press, offering a breadth of material to support students throughout their undergraduate studies.

From Taylor and Francis Group

Sustainable Development Goals Online - A curated library to support the United Nations call to action to end poverty, fight inequality & injustice and protect the planet.

Important links