Need books from beyond CUNY? Want to search for books from libraries around the world, to see what’s out there, regardless of which libraries have what? And, then, get them delivered to you through our interlibrary loan service?  WorldCat is the tool for you.

WorldCat is the definitive way to search for books (as well as media and other physical library resources), and you can easily make requests right from there to interlibrary loan. So, if you are looking to obtain a book (or other physical library resource) that isn’t available through CUNY’s OneSearch, give WorldCat a try.

The best way to access WorldCat is via the library homepage (under “Research”), or by bookmarking this URL: https://libguides.gc.cuny.edu/WorldCatorg

If you’re a long-time user of WorldCat, you might be in the habit of going directly to the address worldcat.org. While that is still possible, it’s no longer a best practice, as it won’t connect you to all the links and services available via the Graduate Center.

You’ll also notice a whole new interface when you access the new WorldCat: more modern, easier to make sense of at a glance…but, if you have any questions about using the new interface, please contact Reference at library@gc.cuny.edu or Interlibrary Loan at ill@gc.cuny.edu. We’re always happy to help!

And, wait, there’s more! There’s also another version of WorldCat, called WorldCat FirstSearch (that is also available on our A-Z list of databases). This interface can help in identifying a specific edition of a book, for advanced searches combining several pieces of bibliographic information, or for searches based on incomplete citation information. (There is also an ILL request feature in FirstSearch.)

We encourage you to give WorldCat and interlibrary loan a try. The world of library resources is truly just a few clicks away!

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