Anet, a consortium of 20 Belgian academic and special libraries, including the University of Antwerp and the City of Antwerp Heritage Library, has signed an agreement with OCLC to add some 2 million records to WorldCat.
Anet is the first library consortium from Belgium to load records into WorldCat, the set of databases that together comprise the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. WorldCat data is contributed, maintained and shared by libraries around the world. It is managed and enhanced by OCLC. WorldCat data supports a range of OCLC and partner services, driving efficiency in library management, improving discovery of library collections and increasing the visibility of libraries on the Web.
Anet consortium members have been cooperatively cataloguing and managing their own collections since 1985 using a proprietary library technology developed and hosted by the University of Antwerp. The need to increase visibility of their collections on the Internet inspired the decision to load records into WorldCat, according to Anet members. Information seekers often begin their research through websites like Yahoo! and Google. OCLC's syndication program enables WorldCat data to be made available through those consumer service providers to increase visibility, efficiency and use of libraries, their collections and services.
Libraries in some 170 countries and territories have contributed holdings in WorldCat, and there are more than 485 languages and dialects represented in the database.
