Linking all the world's libraries in the biggest bibliography you've ever seen
Posted 11.02.2011 at 10:01 am
2 Comments
Amazing Databases: WorldCat
Wikimedia Commons
Since the nonprofit Online Computer Library Center created WorldCat 40 years ago, librarians around the world have filled the database with bibliographic information on more than 1.75 billion items from 72,000 libraries in 170 countries.
Librarians use the database to access information on any book in the global stack. Borrowers can search WorldCat’s mobile app for books, movies, maps, music and research papers in nearby libraries. Researchers, meanwhile, can mine WorldCat to uncover historical and cultural trends, and perhaps predict future ones. A University of Toronto economist, for example, found that spikes and drops in the number of new technology books tend to precede economic expansions and recessions (respectively) by approximately one year.
Check out the other nine most amazing databases in the world here.
2 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Popular Tags
Technology
138 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Innovation Challenges
Popular Science+ For iPad
Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page
Download Our App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
March 2012: The Future of Medicine
A 10,000-rpm, no-pulse heart is completely revolutionizing how we think about transplants. Plus: rapid-response virus hunters, a shocking cure for migraines, the world's youngest person to have achieved nuclear fusion (in his parents' garage!), and much more.
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Technology
- The Best Science Podcasts for the Enjoyment of Your Ears and Brain
- DNA Sequencer Plugs Right Into Your USB Port, Analyzes Your Genome
- The World Through Google's Smartglasses
- Thermoelectric "Power Felt" Fabric Lets You Sit on Your Phone to Power It
- Japanese Construction Company Plans Space Elevator By 2050
- The Race For The Next Big Thing In Green Illumination
- The Yamaha Moegi Demonstrates The Future of Fuel Efficiency
- World's Tiniest Possible Transistor Created Out of a Single Phosphorus Atom
- Simulated Mars Base Will Help Future Menu Planners Pack the Interplanetary Pantry
- Hubble Discovers the First 'Waterworld,' an Exoplanet Covered in Water
Most Emailed
Technology
- The Best Science Podcasts for the Enjoyment of Your Ears and Brain
- DNA Sequencer Plugs Right Into Your USB Port, Analyzes Your Genome
- The World Through Google's Smartglasses
- Thermoelectric "Power Felt" Fabric Lets You Sit on Your Phone to Power It
- Japanese Construction Company Plans Space Elevator By 2050
- The Race For The Next Big Thing In Green Illumination
- The Yamaha Moegi Demonstrates The Future of Fuel Efficiency
- World's Tiniest Possible Transistor Created Out of a Single Phosphorus Atom
- Simulated Mars Base Will Help Future Menu Planners Pack the Interplanetary Pantry
- Hubble Discovers the First 'Waterworld,' an Exoplanet Covered in Water
Most Commented
Technology
- The Yamaha Moegi Demonstrates The Future of Fuel Efficiency
- Today's NASA Budget: 'Irrational' Cuts to Planetary Science Mean Mars Missions Get the Axe
- How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole
- Video: President Obama Test-Fires a Marshmallow Cannon at the White House Science Fair
- After Animal Activists Track Pigeon Hunt With Drone, Pigeon Hunters Shoot Down Drone
- Video: DARPA's Legged Squad Support System (a.k.a. Big Dog) Goes Outside to Play
- The World Through Google's Smartglasses
- Waterless Washing Machine Levitates Laundry and Cleans It With Dry Ice
- Japanese Construction Company Plans Space Elevator By 2050
- Hubble Discovers the First 'Waterworld,' an Exoplanet Covered in Water
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
until they make a WorldDog, i think this proves that cats are smarter than dogs
-Knock knock
-Who's there?
-The Doctor.
-Doctor Who?
-Yes
I love me some Whirled Cat.