OCLC Introduces AI-Generated Recommendations

NISO Member News

Columbus, OH | June 21, 2023

OCLC is beta testing book recommendations generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in WorldCat.org, the website that allows users to explore the collections of thousands of libraries through a single search. Searchers can now obtain AI-enabled book recommendations for print and e-books and then look for those items in libraries near them. The AI-generated book recommendations beta is now available in WorldCat.org and WorldCat Find, the mobile app extension for WorldCat.org.

“OCLC has always been committed to offering new and emerging technologies to help libraries gain efficiencies and better serve their users," said Mary Sauer-Games, OCLC Vice President, Global Product Management. “We believe that this particular application of AI technology has great potential for libraries and their users. We're excited to test this new AI book recommendations feature to help people quickly find what they need in libraries through WorldCat.org and our Find app."

During the beta test, AI-generated book recommendations will be available to WorldCat.org users in the United States and Canada viewing the English interface. Users must be logged in to their WorldCat.org accounts, and can use the option to obtain recommendations for print and e-books. The book recommendation beta will also be available to all users of the WorldCat Find mobile app. WorldCat Find is currently available to users in the United States using an English interface.

The WorldCat.org book recommendation feature is OCLC's latest use of artificial intelligence to enrich its services. OCLC currently employs machine learning, a subset of AI, in work with duplicate detection in WorldCat and will continue to expand the use of machine learning and AI in ongoing programs to enhance WorldCat quality.

The new feature uses artificial intelligence to help WorldCat.org users identify books in library collections represented in WorldCat related to the author and title of a known book. Users of the WorldCat Find app can also find books based on subject. In both cases, no personal information, including search history, is used to determine recommendations.

WorldCat is the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. For more than 50 years, OCLC metadata experts, libraries, content providers and others have contributed, enhanced, improved, and shared bibliographic data to connect cultural and scholarly resources in libraries worldwide. WorldCat.org is the freely accessible website where anyone can search the collections of thousands of libraries.

OCLC encourages users to provide feedback about the new book recommendations feature through the WorldCat.org site and the WorldCat Find app.

Those attending the American Library Association Conference in Chicago June 23-26 can visit the OCLC booth #4011 to see a demo of this new feature. A list of OCLC events at ALA is on the website.

About This Organization

About OCLC

OCLC is a nonprofit global library organization that provides 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.