"This new report summarizes the findings of research conducted by OCLC on what constitutes quality in library online catalogs from both end users' and librarians' points of view. Key findings:

* The end user's experience of the delivery of wanted items is as important, if not more important, than his or her discovery experience.
* End users rely on and expect enhanced content including summaries/abstracts and tables of contents.
* An advanced search option (supporting fielded searching) and facets help end users refine searches, navigate, browse and manage large result sets.
* Important differences exist between the catalog data quality priorities of end users and those who work in libraries.
* Librarians and library staff, like end users, approach catalogs and catalog data purposefully. End users generally want to find and obtain needed information; librarians and library staff generally have work responsibilities to carry out. The work roles of librarians and staff influence their data quality preferences.
* Librarians' choice of data quality enhancements reflects their understanding of the importance of accurate, structured data in the catalog."

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 19 May 2008-OCLC and Google Inc. have signed an agreement to exchange data that will facilitate the discovery of library collections through Google search services.

Under terms of the agreement, OCLC member libraries participating in the Google Book Search^TM program, which makes the full text of more than one million books searchable, may share their WorldCat-derived MARC records with Google to better facilitate discovery of library collections through Google.

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 19 May 2008-OCLC and Google Inc. have signed an agreement to exchange data that will facilitate the discovery of library collections through Google search services.

Under terms of the agreement, OCLC member libraries participating in the Google Book Search^TM program, which makes the full text of more than one million books searchable, may share their WorldCat-derived MARC records with Google to better facilitate discovery of library collections through Google.

OCLC has opened Worldcat for free searching on the web. You can search all formats (not just books as in Open Worldcat).  The search results have a nice "Refine Your Search" feature.   Editions are clustered (FRBRized).   Also, you can type ina zip code to see which nearby libraries own what you are looking for.  Also, you can download a search box to add to your webpage.