Comparing Amazon and WorldCat

The Rareness of Books: Comparing Amazon and WorldCat

Ted Gentle

The Gentle/Scorsese Writer Librarian

701 Brookhill Circle

Pell City, AL 35125

            So much of being a librarian is being an antiquarian, and that involves the simple act of finding a book.  When a patron, in an act similar to consulting his local Family Video, simply asks for a good book to read, and the librarian desires to leave the confines of his or her catalog, where does that librarian turn?  Is the answer a bestseller, or an obscure work from small press?  The answer, inevitably, is to provide access to the greatest amount of variety as possible.  With that having been said, which serves that need the best, the bookseller Amazon or the open catalog WorldCat?

            With Amazon, the big win is accessibility, with books being quick to purchase and quick to deliver.  There is access to multiple works, including books, DVDs, and other items.  One can buy the book or DVD version of Shutter Island, or multiple editions and commentaries on Moby Dick.  Pricing can be expensive, although the used editions are usually much cheaper.  Amazon also has a reputation for a rather ruthless business approach, although this can also be present at certain, overrun libraries!  One can argue that, like Facebook, a new expectation for librarians is familiarity and use of this website.

            Where does that leave us with WorldCat?  One can observe that WorldCat does not allow you to buy the book, but does lead to greater awareness of what is present in various libraries and from various small publishers.  It’s role is mainly as an archive, where one can look up his or her old student projects or those of an old Professor.  If you can believe that Post-Colonial Literature is less a body of books, and more of a resource or more, then WorldCat is a resource that would help a librarian in his or her research responsibilities.

            Will there ever come a day when Amazon and WorldCat merge?  The greatest dilemma facing librarians today is whether they can agree on a single, open-source website such as OverDrive that can provide all of the articles, books, and more.  Would we call this website AmazonCat, and have pricing dealt with by a third party?  Is Walmart’s Vudu a positive sign of change, with almost all of the movies physically available through Netflix now streamable there? 

            One can certainly see an immense need for Amazon and WorldCat, with each website having its own strengths and weaknesses.  However, one can also identify a large amount of disorganization in the physical library systems themselves.   One can hope that these physical libraries, if their use continues, serve as an access point to fewer, similar websites with a greater amount of organization.  With online apps such as Pandora being one successful example, one hopes for a goal of free and open access.