WorldCat

In the 1970s, OCLC grew from a regional computer system for 54 Ohio colleges into an international network.^[3]

In 1979, the first Canadian and the first international library joined OCLC.^[3]

Timeline

On August 26, 1971, the OCLC Online Union Catalog, now called WorldCat, went online.^[4]

• 1975 – Library and Archives Canada begins adding records
• 1978 – Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) begins to participate
• 1985 – British Library begins adding UKMARC records
• 1987 – National Library of Scotland begins adding
• 1987 – National Library of Wales begins contributing
• 1987 – National Central Library, Taiwan begins adding
• 1991 – Six staff members from the National Library of China help OCLC to add a computerized catalog of Chinese books
• 1991 – National Library of Turkey becomes an OCLC member
• 1992 – The National Library of Australia begins contributing
• 1992 – National and University Library of Iceland begins adding
• 1995 – National Library of the Czech Republic begins contributing
• 1997 – National Library of New Zealand begins contributing
• 1998 – National Library of Ireland begins adding
• 1999 – National Diet Library of Japan begins adding records for Western-language materials
• 1999 – National Library of Lithuania begins contributing
• 1999 – National Library of South Africa begins adding
• 2002 – Singapore National Union Catalog is added
• 2003 – Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library), the Library of Congress and OCLC agree to develop a Virtual International Authority File
• 2003 – Chilean Directorate of Libraries, Archives, and Museums (DIBAM) of the National Library begin contributing
• 2004 – Bibliothèque nationale de France begins contributing
• 2005 – National Library of Finland begins adding
• 2005 – Iraqi National Library and Archive begins adding
• 2006 – Deutsche Nationalbibliothek adds 4 million new records
• 2006 – Dutch Union Catalog is added
• 2007 – National Library of Mexico begins adding
• 2007 – Swiss National Library adds
• 2007 – Kungliga biblioteket (National Library of Sweden) adds
• 2008 – National Library Service, Barbados adds
• 2008 – National Library of Israel adds
• 2008 – National Library of Spain adds
• 2008 – Royal Library of Denmark and Danish Bibliographic Centre add
• 2009 – National and University Library of Slovenia begins adding
• 2010 – National Library of Serbia begins adding
• 2012 – National Library of Norway begins adding

• Wendy M. Grossman (21 January 2009). "Why you can't find a library book in your search engine: Finding a book at your local library should just involve a simple web search; but thanks to a US cataloguing site, that is far from the case". The Guardian.

• WorldCat website
• WorldCat Identities
• What is OCLC?