These databases are heavily used by SILS library patrons. In the introductory course, students search WorldCat in conjunction with a number of their assignments. The students also use the Library of Congress Name Authority File in their assignments. This use of these MARC records forms an integral part of the students' mastery of the MARC Books format. In the advanced cataloging and classification course, students create WorldCat records for documents in variety of formats, including electronic resources and serials.
Students also input monograph records to the database in a practice mode.
Additionally, they use the Dublin Core to create metadata records. Students in a resource selection and evaluation course use OCLC to search for recent publications in order to complete a simulated collection, the major project of the term. Throughout the program, students use OCLC resources for term papers in variety of courses. Additionally, OCLC records, including holdings information, have provided extremely useful data for student master's papers.