OCLC, the non-profit computer library service and research organisation, and NetAdvance are working together to add metadata from the JapanKnowledge and JK Books collections to WorldCat. WorldCat claims to be the world's most comprehensive online catalogue of library resources, increasing discovery and access to these rich Japanese-language resources.
The JapanKnowledge database represents an extensive collection of Japanese-language content, including more than 50 leading encyclopedias and dictionaries from Japan, reference materials of specialised interest such as law and history, and full-text content from Japanese and other Asian literature. The Complete Japanese Encyclopedia (Nipponica), Encyclopedia of Japan and the Encyclopedia of Japanese History are among the noteworthy resources in the collection. Subscribed to by more than 1,000 institutions around the world, JapanKnowledge has been an indispensable reference tool for anyone interested in Japanese studies.
JK Books is an e-book platform for reprinted Japanese magazines of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Metadata for renowned Japanese magazines will be added to WorldCat.
Content from the JapanKnowledge and JK Books collections will be discoverable through WorldCat Discovery Services, a new suite of cloud-based applications set to launch later this month that brings together the FirstSearch and WorldCat Local services.
OCLC works with partners to negotiate access to critical content on behalf of the cooperative to ensure access to libraries' most popular resources.
