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FirstSearch®

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Update or set up your email preferences to receive the latest updates about FirstSearch and other OCLC reference and discovery products. Subscribe to Discovery and Reference, under Product and Service Updates.

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Promoting FirstSearch

Expand awareness of FirstSearch in your library with material such as customizable posters, bookmarks, and table tents, as well as electronic logos and icons.

Promotional materials

Databases available through FirstSearch

FirstSearch provides access to databases that help to expand your library’s collection.

Use the Open Access Content database to find items in leading open content sources

FirstSearch databases

Genealogical research aids

FirstSearch serves as an excellent way to delve into WorldCat® for genealogical history. There’s no deeper catalog than WorldCat to find historic newspapers, church histories, wills, manuscripts, maps, and other important documents in libraries.

WorldCat focus on genealogy

Member stories

photo: Columbia University's Butler Library

Organize your collections to share and preserve history

Learn how the Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies uses FirstSearch to locate and share collections.

UC Davis library staff helping student

Find precisely what you’re looking for without distraction

See how the University of California, Davis empowers researchers with quick and efficient access to the resources they need worldwide.

“I use WorldCat on FirstSearch 10–15 times a day at least, sometimes more. I couldn't do my job without WorldCat on FirstSearch. The breadth of collections is unparalleled.”

Tommy Nixon
MLIS Subject Librarian for Classics, Dramatic Art, & English/Comparative Literature
Davis Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

FirstSearch is the most powerful interface for searching WorldCat. Researchers and library staff can find and select resources in thousands of library collections with rich information from WorldCat records. FirstSearch libraries are also more visible on the popular websites where people often begin their research.

Service availability

  • Available everywhere

Learn more

Download the FirstSearch brochure

Download the FirstSearch brochure
Download the FirstSearch brochure (US Letter)
Download the FirstSearch brochure (A4)

Upcoming events

Watch this space for more upcoming webinars

On-demand webinars

Recent news

Watch this space for more FirstSearch news.