Writing Reviews for Open WorldCat

Method One: Writing Reviews for Open WorldCat Through Google or Yahoo

Any reader who wishes can submit reviews to Open WorldCat, the pilot project that is taking OCLC records to the public through Google, Yahoo, and other book related web sites. Librarians should take this opportunity to share their reviews with readers and other librarians everywhere. With contributions by many, librarians and their clients can make Open WorldCat a high quality alternative to the reader advice on Amazon and other commercial web sites.

It is easy. Here is what you do to add a review to an Open WorldCat record.

1. Find Open WorldCat. There are several ways of doing this. The easiest way is simply go to http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/tryit/default.htm. Save this link.

2. Enter your title in either the Google or Yahoo search box. Click "Search." I do not recommend the Google Scholar box, as it takes an extra step and does not find as many of the titles as the other two.

3. Click the correct title on the results list.

4. Click the tab that says "Reviews."

5. Click "Write an Online Review."

6. Open an Open WorldCat account if this is your first visit. It is free. If you have an account, sign in.

7. Select a rating for the book.

8. Give the review a title. You may use author and title of the book or you may give your review its own title.

9. Paste in your review. You can write the review at this point, but you are much better off having written it in advance. Open WorldCat will time out as you write if you take fifteen minutes to compose. Proofread before you submit. Your readers will appreciate a better edited review.

10. Click "Submit Review." You will be returned to the record and your review will be on the screen. Proofread again. You can edit again if necessary by clicking "Write an Online Review."

Here are some sample reviews:

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/oclc/60739594&tab=reviews

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/oclc/39551790&tab=reviews

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/oclc/57514882&tab=reviews

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/oclc/54022622&tab=reviews

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/oclc/49285663&tab=reviews

OCLC guidelines for writing reviews are found at http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/help/guidelines/. A link to these guidelines is found on the online submission form.

Try submitting a review for the next good book you read.

Method Two: Writing Reviews for Open WorldCat Through FirstSearch

There is now another way to submit reviews to Open WorldCat.

1. Log in to http://firstsearch.oclc.org.

2. Choose the WorldCat database.

3. Search for your title.

4. Click the correct title in the results list.

5. Click the tab in the center of the screen that says "Add/View Comments."

6. On the next page, click "Write a Review."

At this point the process is identical to that in the first set of instructions above.

7. Click "Write an Online Review."

8. Open an Open WorldCat account if this is your first visit. It is free. If you have an account, sign in.

9. Select a rating for the book.

10. Give the review a title. You may use author and title of the book or you may give your review its own title.

11. Paste in your review. You can write the review at this point, but you are much better off having written it in advance. Open WorldCat will time out as you write if you take fifteen minutes to compose. Proofread before you submit. Your readers will appreciate a better edited review.

12. Click "Submit Review." You will be returned to the record and your review will be on the screen. Proofread again. You can edit again if necessary by clicking "Write an Online Review."

This second method requires a couple of additional steps from the first method. The advantage is that the FirstSearch search seems to find the desired title more reliably than the Google or Yahoo searches in the first method.