Template talk:WorldCat

disambiguation page example

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the example you give of a disambiguation page (Jesus Christ). If you mean a wikipedia disambiguation page, there's one for Jesus (Jesus (disambiguation)), but Jesus Christ isn't a disambiguation page. Would another example be helpful, or am I misundertsanding? Dsp13 11:33, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I realise I stupidly misunderstood: by "disambiguation page" was meant the results of a WorldCat Identities search, rather than a wikipedia disambig page. I've added links to try and make obvious in case others are as slow as me. I'm not quite sure what makes the result of a 'Australia' search appear more useful & less like a disambiguation page than the result of a 'Jesus Christ' search, though. Dsp13 01:04, 4 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

descriptions don't show up

If I preview this page with the nowiki tags taken out, I don't see the description text appearing at all, but the word WorldCat instead. Dsp13 11:41, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Updated URL

The original URL http://orlabs.oclc.org/Identities is now returning a 404. I updated it to the current URL http://www.worldcat.org/oclc, I tested it with one article, and it worked fine. Hopefully there won't be any further problems with the new url. I plan to update the other two related templates as they are returning 404s as well. Who (talk) 10:07, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Of course, most of the other articles linking to it aren't working with the new URL, but, they weren't working with the old one either. I am trying to figure out all the new parameters that need to be used now. Who (talk) 10:16, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Alright, so basically, it seems if the ID identifier is a numerical it requires the url www.worldcat.org/oclc; for the hyphenated identifiers it uses the www.worldcat.org/identities url. Since the template Template:worldcat_id already uses the second url, it's easier to change the current ones using this template to that one, and include the updated usage on the main page. I don't mind changing all of the linked articles. It would be better in the long run if the main template incorporated both urls with different parameters, but I honestly don't remember how to do that atm. If someone has any issues or suggestions, I would be glad to hear them. Who (talk) 10:36, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I've now updated it to allow for the old identfiers to be used with ID and the single pages be called with parameter OCLC, by checking for each parameter individually. I also updated the documentation, as well as moved that to the new template version for documentation. I will be working on setting the parameters to default to the OCLC parameter if the ID parameter isn't given. Feel free to fix my code. Who (talk) 13:42, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

More proposed updates, please see worldcat proposal or on the Village Pump. I now have it checking to ensure that one of the parameters ID or OCLC is used, if not it will display a warning. Also, I have added accessdate. The usage would still be the same for any article currently using the ID param. See below for new format:

{{Worldcat|name=Test|oclc=222395773|accessdate=March 2011}} would produce:
Test in libraries (WorldCat catalog). Retrieved on March 2011.

similarly:

* {{Worldcat|name=Test|id=lccn-n50-34079|accessdate=March 2011}} would produce:
Test in libraries (WorldCat catalog). Retrieved on March 2011.

I would like to implement the new format for this template, which can be found at User:Who/Worldcat. Please let me know if there are any objections or suggestions. Who (talk) 22:54, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Worldcat id and Worldcat subject

To avoid confusion between Worldcat usage for individual books and identities, I've been using Template:Worldcat id for people. Now that the Infobox includes the OCLC field, we don't need a template for individual books. There's also a Template:Worldcat subject, but I haven't had occasion to use that. I like that the 'id' version says "by or about', and that the subject version says 'about'. Not every person is an author, but many famous/interesting/important people have had books written about them. At any rate, I'd rather keep the templates separate. At some point there might be a need for Template:AuthorLinks which would have multiple parameters, similar to Template:CongLinks or Template:GovLinks or Template:JudgeLinks or Template:UK MP links. That, imo, would be more useful than trying to maake one Template work for a book, a person, and a topic. For example, there are internationally-known book review websites, the Open Library, various interview and appearance websites (for fairly current authors), and so forth. See John Updike#External links for some ideas. Flatterworld (talk) 20:36, 30 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

{{Infobox book}} documentation may need revision. Quote:

oclc [field name]

OCLC number (prefer 1st edition), use when book has no ISBN

If we hope that this field will be used for books that do have ISBN --perhaps meaning books whose first editions do have ISBN-- then we should say so in that template documentation.

Template {{worldcat}} remains useful in External links for books. --even in book articles that do include {tl |infobox book}} and do complete its oclc field. The template {Worldcat |oclc=} targets one particular WorldCat library record for one copy of a book, as does the template {Infobox book |oclc=}. Those records may differ. Routinely {infobox book} links to a record for the first edition. A different record, probably but not always for a copy of a different edition, may be a useful External link.

{{Worldcat}} or its documentation may need revision. The display text implies (for a book) a target such as the "Formats and Editions" directory of all records for a title. The target (for a book) is one WorldCat library record for one copy of a title. Compare:

"Formats and Editions of Elidor". WorldCat.
Elidor in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Why do we have this discrepancy?

--P64 (talk) 20:21, 4 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

One day later I have revised the latter two of three paragraphs heavily.

Most current uses[1] of template {Worldcat} are in book articles. Few are in biographies, which almost always use {Worldcat id} instead. Perhaps the former should be tailored for books and its use deprecated for people. --P64 (talk) 18:45, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Auto-access Wikidata?

Hi, Help Project Team experts.

First, I acknowledge that I do not know the difficulty of this item, so this is truly just a question.

I note that a number of templates, when added to "External links", will auto-access Wikidata to populate their information. I also note that this does not work for the WorldCat family of templates ({{WorldCat}}, {{WorldCat id}}, {{Worldcat author}}, {{Worldcat subject}}), which require an identifier be entered by the editor working on a particular en.wiki article. If I have missed something, and this does function, my apologies... and please let me know how to execute that function.

I also note that all four of those templates have the identical {{Wikidata property}} box, all showing the same property, P7859.

Is it possible to have these WorldCat templates operate like some other templates of this type, providing auto-access to the applicable outside source of information, and thus include in the documentation:

The ID number may be omitted if the article's Wikidata item includes property WorldCat Identities ID (P7859).

Thank you. Jmg38 (talk) 21:25, 2 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Update and clarification needed

Citing the documentation: This template can make an external link to:

A library holding

An item (book, CD, video, journal, etc.) catalogued in the inventories of various libraries.

Comment: OCLD distinguishes between single editions (worldcat.org/en/title/...) and works (different URL).

A bibliography (outdated)

A list of works by or about a subject (i.e., works associated with a particular subject heading).

Comment: Bibliographies had been available at WorldCat Identities. This project ceased to exist.

(P7859)
{{WorldCat|id=lccn-n79100628 |name=Murasaki Shikibu}} now links to:
https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PCjxFk3Wjh7kMKhGMXWYCHC.html

Comment: The new project is called WorldCat Entities but it doesn't offer a bibliography.

WorldCat Entities ID (P10832)

Conclusion: This template should be limited to the first topic. The links need to be verified. --Kolja21 (talk) 00:41, 17 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]