WorldCat

Catalogers reuse records from here, so an error in one record tends to spread, and a missing record, a duplicate, or one record that mixes two formats makes your book harder for a library to order correctly. No author on any route can edit a record. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally send the correction to the publisher's metadata team or distributor, and a self-published author normally goes to their platform, or to a library that holds the book and can report the problem. Record the OCLC number for each edition, note any error, and remember that public holdings counts are incomplete and delayed.

WorldCat is the cooperative catalog run by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), a nonprofit library cooperative. Member libraries contribute bibliographic records and attach their holdings, which is how WorldCat can show that a given library owns a given book. OCLC says member librarians copy-catalog most of their items from records already in WorldCat, and partner content providers such as publishers also add records, sometimes before publication.

WorldCat.org is the free public search interface. It requires JavaScript, and anyone can search it by title, author, or ISBN and see which libraries report holding an item.

What the library world collectively says about your book: the records that describe each edition, the OCLC number that identifies each record, and the list of libraries that report a copy. Because catalogers reuse WorldCat records, an error there tends to spread. WorldCat shows holdings reported by participating libraries. It is useful evidence, but it is incomplete, can lag by months, and may count institutions or systems differently from branches. Do not treat it as a sales total or a complete adoption count.

Search for each edition by ISBN and by title once the book exists, and again a few months after publication. Note the OCLC number for each record and the number of holding libraries. Look for problems: an edition with no record, two records for the same edition, or one record that mixes the hardcover and paperback.

You cannot edit a WorldCat record, and nobody can promise you a change. Pick the route by the error.

1. Confirm the exact record first. Note the OCLC number, so everyone is discussing the same record.
2. Read OCLC's current information for authors. It says to contact the publisher or the institution that owns the work first, because those sources supply much of the metadata in WorldCat and are often the only ones able to edit it.
3. If the problem came from commercial metadata (title, subtitle, contributors, format, publication date, publisher), the fix belongs upstream, with the publisher, distributor, or platform that sends the feed. Fixing it there is also what stops it coming back.
4. If the problem is in the library record itself, ask the cataloging staff at a library that holds the book to report it, using the route OCLC's guidance specifies. Give them the OCLC number and say exactly what is wrong.

WorldCat shows holdings reported by participating libraries. It is useful evidence, but it is incomplete, can lag by months, and may count institutions or systems differently from branches. Do not treat it as a sales total or a complete adoption count.

1. Go to WorldCat.org and search each ISBN separately; then search the title with your name.
2. Open each result and record the OCLC number, the format described, and the publisher shown.
3. Use the libraries view to see which libraries report holding it; enter a location to see nearby libraries.
4. Log missing editions, duplicate records, and wrong details, along with the party who can fix each one.

The OCLC number is not the ISBN and not the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN); one book can have all three. WorldCat is not a bookstore, not a sales report, and not a complete census of every library copy. It is also not something an author registers with or claims; there is no author profile in WorldCat.