Next Steps for FirstSearch and WorldCat Discovery | Council of Chief Librarians

OCLC plans to develop a new version of FirstSearch with the full-featured searching of WorldCat required by many researchers and library staff. This search functionality will also be available to WorldCat Discovery subscribers. The new version of FirstSearch will have the same look and feel of today’s WorldCat Discovery, so gaining familiarity with WorldCat Discovery now will support a smooth transition to the new version of FirstSearch when it is released.

Attend this webinar for an introduction to WorldCat Discovery and guidance for setting up your library’s WorldCat Discovery site.

In 2015, OCLC announced that WorldCat Discovery Services would replace FirstSearch at the end of the calendar year. The Discovery interface, similar to Open WorldCat, features a revamped design, faceted results, and improved listings of related editions and formats. However, it lacks a few advanced search functions available via the FirstSearch version. In response to complaints about these missing options, the retirement date for FirstSearch was extended to 2016.

This week it was announced that FirstSearch would continue into 2017, while work is done building a new platform to support full-featured searching. Since Worldcat Discovery will apparently also be enhanced with new capabilities, OCLC's prolonged development cycle and plans to maintain two product lines represents a substantial investment.