DUBLIN, Ohio, 12 October 2017—OCLC and Internet Archive are working together to make the Archive’s collection of 2.5 million digitized books easier to find and access online and through local libraries.

OCLC will process metadata from the Internet Archive for its digital collection, matching to existing records in WorldCat, the world’s most comprehensive database of information about library collections, or adding a new record if one does not exist. The WorldCat record will include a link leading back to the Archive.org record. From there, searchers can examine or potentially borrow the related digital item.

Internet Archive will also add a link from its records to WorldCat.org, the online resource that makes it possible for searchers to quickly and easily find and access resources in libraries nearby--and worldwide.

“This work strengthens the Archive’s connection to the library community around the world. It advances our goal of universal access by making our collections much more widely discoverable. It will benefit library users around the globe by giving them the opportunity to borrow digital books that might not otherwise be available to them,” said Brewster Kahle, Founder and Digital Librarian of the Internet Archive. “We’re glad to partner with OCLC to make this possible and look forward to other opportunities this synchronization will present.”

"OCLC is always looking for opportunities to work with partners who share goals and objectives that can benefit libraries and library users,” said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. “We’re excited to be working with Internet Archive, and to make this valuable content discoverable through WorldCat. This partnership will add value to WorldCat, expand the collections of member libraries, and extend the reach of Internet Archive content to library users everywhere.”

WorldCat is a unique, global resource for finding items held in libraries of all types and sizes. It comprises more than 402 million records representing more than 2.5 billion holdings in libraries worldwide. Libraries cooperatively contribute, enhance and share bibliographic data through WorldCat, connecting people to cultural and scholarly resources in libraries. OCLC’s technology and team of expert catalogers and data quality specialists constantly enrich WorldCat records with new and corrected information to ensure that WorldCat contains the highest quality records possible. Data shared through WorldCat supports a variety of network services and spurs innovation.

About the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive (archive.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive has an historical web collection (the Wayback Machine) of over 150 billion web pages, about 240,000 movies, over 500,000 audio items (including over 70,000 live concerts), over 1,800,000 texts, 1,600 education items, and over 30,000 software items.

About OCLC
OCLC is a nonprofit global library cooperative providing shared technology services, original research and community programs so that libraries can better fuel learning, research and innovation. Through OCLC, member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. Libraries gain efficiencies through OCLC’s WorldShare, a complete set of library management applications and services built on an open, cloud-based platform. It is through collaboration and sharing of the world’s collected knowledge that libraries can help people find answers they need to solve problems. Together as OCLC, member libraries, staff and partners make breakthroughs possible.