from OCLC:
Librarians have told us how much they value the unique capabilities of FirstSearch®, and we have listened. As a result, FirstSearch and WorldCat® Discovery will continue as separate services. We will continue the full-featured WorldCat searching valued in FirstSearch in a new version of FirstSearch, and we will add these capabilities to WorldCat Discovery.
- A new version of FirstSearch will deliver the full-featured searching of WorldCat valued by FirstSearch users today.
- WorldCat Discovery will continue to provide single-search discovery of electronic, digital and physical materials in your collections and in libraries worldwide. In addition to the single search box preferred by many searchers, future WorldCat Discovery will provide the full-featured search experience of FirstSearch for library staff and other expert searchers. WorldCat Discovery will remain the user-facing interface to WorldShare® Management Services.
Both WorldCat Discovery and the new version of FirstSearch will include a modern, mobile-ready interface.
Your library’s collections will remain visible on the websites where many people begin their research, no matter which option you choose.
As OCLC works to deliver critical functionality required in both services, access to the current version of FirstSearch will extend beyond the 2016 calendar year into 2017.
We have modified the plan to transition all FirstSearch and WorldCat Local users to WorldCat Discovery because we understand libraries need to deliver search experiences that meet different user needs:
- Power searching of the WorldCat database, often used by library staff and expert searchers
- Single-search-box discovery of electronic, digital and physical library collections for a broader user community.
Many libraries also already have a discovery service but still want to provide detailed searching of WorldCat to support research and a variety of library workflows.
Your library’s current subscription lets you select either the new version of FirstSearch or WorldCat Discovery, implementing the service that best meets the needs of your users and staff.
We will share additional details about plans to enhance WorldCat Discovery and release of the new version of FirstSearch in the coming months. You may wish to monitor the schedule of planned enhancements when it is available and plan your library’s transition for a time when features most important to you are present.
Thank you for your patience as we extend the development timeline for the expansion of functionality in FirstSearch and WorldCat Discovery into 2017 to allow time to develop both services.
