Unveiling Boston Public Library’s Hidden Collections Using the WorldCat Metadata API
Using technology enabled by the BookOps-WorldCat API wrapper (OCLC DevConnect 2024) and inspired by the functionality of MatchMarc (Code4Lib Journal, Nov. 2019), Boston Public Library has developed a tool that allows catalogers to query spreadsheets of bibliographic data against OCLC’s bibliographic database using the WorldCat Metadata API 2.0. In an augural test of almost 12,000 uncataloged nineteenth century items hidden in BPL’s offsite storage facility, we used brief metadata collected by inventory specialists to successfully match some 70% of these items to WorldCat bibliographic records. We will discuss the development and testing of this tool, our experiences navigating OCLC documentation, and the realities of working at this scale. We will also reflect on this tool’s positive outcomes on discovery for our large research collection, and its demonstrable utility on other use cases ranging from government documents to newly purchased materials on order across BPL’s many world languages. This tool provides proof of concept of how cataloging departments can upskill without downsizing through collaborating with non-catalogers who can be trained to collect data such as titles, names, dates, and standard numbers, thereby extending the ability of libraries to catalog collections too big for typical book-in-hand workflows.