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.
Recommendations (Beta) From the Entry For John Grisham’s, The Litigators
“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.
[Clip]
OCLC encourages users to provide feedback about the new book recommendations feature through the WorldCat.org site and the WorldCat Find app.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.