The National Library of Sweden (KB) has signed an agreement to join WorldCat, one of the world's largest library catalogues, operated by OCLC, after seven years of negotiation. During the entire negotiation period KB maintained that data in LIBRIS should be freely available under the Creative Commons open license (CC0) and in February 2014 OCLC and KB finally signed an agreement regarding open licensing.
The important agreement on open licensing will enable KB and the affiliated LIBRIS libraries to become members of WorldCat.
The Swedish membership means that Swedish research and Swedish publishing become more visible in the international context. For Swedish LIBRIS-libraries the agreement also means that they can now more easily download catalogue records for material they purchase, particularly for non-Swedish material.
Membership will be effective September 1, 2014.
