OCLC information for authors

Reading it before you write to anyone saves you sending a correction to a party who cannot act on it, which is the usual reason nothing happens. It is guidance and not a form: there is no way to add a book to the shared library catalog by asking, and there are no author profiles there. Every route does the same thing here, which is read first; normally a metadata error goes to the publisher's metadata team for a traditionally or hybrid published book and to the platform or distributor for a self-published one, while a duplicate or merged record goes to a holding library or to OCLC. Identify the party that can act, then send a request naming the record number, wrong field, correct value, and supporting source.

OCLC, the cooperative that runs WorldCat, publishes a short help page written for authors who find their books in WorldCat and want to know how the records got there and how to change them. It is the closest thing to an official answer on what an author can and cannot do.

The page's main points: WorldCat.org is a free public view of WorldCat; individual member libraries provide access to the items shown; the sources of the metadata, meaning publishers and contributing institutions, supply much of it and are often the only parties who can edit it; and OCLC recommends contacting the publisher or the institution that owns the work first for any change.

Nothing directly. It is guidance, not a form. Its value is that it tells you where control actually sits: with the publisher's metadata, with the cataloging library, and with OCLC's data quality staff, in that order.

Read the page before you contact anyone about a WorldCat record so that your request goes to the party who can act. For a metadata error, that is usually the publisher's metadata team. For a duplicate or merged record, it is usually a library that holds the book, which can report it to OCLC, or OCLC itself.

Expect limits. OCLC does not add holdings for a library that has not reported them, does not remove an accurate record because the author would prefer a different one, and does not maintain author profiles. Keep your requests specific: the OCLC number, the field, the correct value, and the source that proves it.

1. Open the OCLC information for authors page and note the recommended contact route.
2. Find the WorldCat record in question and copy its OCLC number.
3. Identify who supplied the metadata (usually the publisher) and send the correction there first.
4. If the problem is a duplicate or a merge, ask a holding library or OCLC and record the date and response in your correction log.

This page is often mistaken for a submission form or a way to add a book to WorldCat. It is neither. Books enter WorldCat when a library or data partner contributes a record, not when an author asks. It is also unrelated to the author identity services (ISNI, VIAF, and the LC/NACO authority file), which describe the person rather than the book.