OAIster records join WorldCat.org

The University of Michigan and OCLC have added the OAIster database to WorldCat.org. The aim is to ensure continued public access to open-archive collections, and to expand the visibility of these collections to millions of information seekers through OCLC services. OAIster, which was launched in 2002, links to more than 23 million records contributed by over 1,100 organisations worldwide.

‘Integration of OAIster inside WorldCat.org is the result of many years of looking for a better home for OAIster, where its resources can be searched alongside other valuable, scholarly resources,’ said Kat Hagedorn, OAIster/Metadata Harvesting Librarian at the University of Michigan. ‘I am eagerly looking forward to its increased usefulness in the world of search and discovery.’

OCLC plans to release a freely-accessible, discrete view of the OAIster records in January 2010 through a URL specific to OAIster. OAIster records will also continue to be available on the OCLC FirstSearch service to Base Package subscribers, providing another valuable access point for this rich database and a complement to other FirstSearch databases.