OCLC cataloging application comparison

Create new WorldCat^® records one at a time for print and electronic items to make your library’s rare and distinctive items discoverable. Save time by enriching and sharing existing records, setting and deleting your library’s holdings, and exporting WorldCat records for local use. Choose the service that best meets the needs of your unique library.

info As of 30 April 2024 Connexion® browser and the CatExpress user interface within Connexion browser have been discontinued. Learn more about how to make the switch to WorldShare Record Manager from Connexion browser and CatExpress.

Record editing and creation

	WorldShare Record Manager	WorldShare Record Manager simplified	Connexion client	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Edit records in MARC tag view (such as "245")	Yes	Yes Limited to adding local fields.	Yes	No	Yes
Edit records in MARC text view (such as "Title")	Yes Limited to books, audiobooks, images, sound recordings, and videos.	Yes Limited to adding local fields.	No	No	No
Edit bibliographic records using non-Latin scripts	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Transliterate Latin text to non-Latin text	Yes (Arabic, Persian, and eight languages written in Cyrillic script)	No	Yes (Arabic, Persian)	No	No
Create new authority and bibliographic records for original cataloging	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes (bibliographic records only)
Create, edit, and delete local holdings records (LHRs)	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Move local holdings records (LHRs) to a different bibliographic record	Yes	No	No	No	No
Manage local bibliographic data (LBD)	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Import MARC records	No	No	Yes MARC-8 or Unicode (UTF-8) character set.	No	No
Use constant data for bibliographic records to store and apply frequently used text	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Use constant data for local holdings records (LHRs) to store and apply frequently used text	Yes	No	No	No	No
Use constant data for authority records to store and apply frequently used text	No	No	Yes	No	No
Check spelling	Yes Relies on user's browser spellcheck features.	Yes Relies on user's browser spellcheck features.	Yes	No	No
Work offline, not connected to OCLC	No	No	Yes	No	No
Search WorldCat Entities and add identifiers to MARC records	Yes	No	No	No	No

Actions

	WorldShare Record Manager	WorldShare Record Manager simplified	Connexion client	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Validate records	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Add holdings to bibliographic records	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Upgrade authority and WorldCat bibliographic records	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
View total number of library holdings on bibliographic records	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Display list of libraries that hold bibliographic records	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Delete holdings on bibliographic records	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Delete own bibliographic record	Yes	No	No	No	No
Control authorized headings in bibliographic records and link the headings to the Authority File record	Yes Access to additional authority files, including: AAT (Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus) BNE (Biblioteca Nacional de España) Canadiana (French Names and Canadian Subjects) FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) GND Authorities (German Integrated Authority file) LC (Library of Congress) Māori Subject Headings MeSH Authorities (Medical Subject Headings) NTA Names (Dutch Names) RVM (Répertoire de vedettes-matière)	No	Yes LC only.	No	Yes Functions are performed automatically when record is added to the database.
Autosuggest LC and Canadiana Names	Yes	No	No	No	No
Autosuggest FAST subject headings	Yes	No	No	No	No
Submit bibliographic records to other institutions for review prior to finalizing	No	No	Yes	No	No
Submit Library of Congress authority records to other institutions for review prior to finalizing	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Submit Canadiana authority records to other institutions for review prior to finalizing	Yes	No	No	No	No
Process multiple actions at one time	Yes Using bulk actions for local bibliographic data and local holdings records.	Yes. You can set holding and send to export list in one action.	Yes	No	No
Print labels	Yes Label formats: A12360, L7651, SP1, SL4, SL6, SLB, or any other label format by using the Custom option.	Yes Label formats: A12360, L7651, SP1, SL4, SL6, SLB, or any other label format by using the Custom option.	Yes Label formats: SP1, SL4, SL6, SLB.	No	No
Create label list or file	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
View other libraries’ local holdings records (LHRs)	Yes	No	No	No	No
Create a customizable condensed bibliographic record search results list	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Compare bibliographic records side-by-side	Yes	No	Yes	No	No

Record output

	WorldShare Record Manager	WorldShare Record Manager simplified	Connexion client	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Export records to a file	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Export records via a TCP/IP connection	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Export records via an OCLC Gateway Export session to display messages from your local system	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Export records via a printer or comm port	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Export records in MARC 21 format	Yes Authority and bibliographic records with MARC-8 or UTF-8 Unicode character set in Latin or non-Latin scripts.	Yes Bibliographic records with MARC-8 or UTF-8 Unicode character set in Latin or non-Latin scripts.	Yes Authority and bibliographic records with MARC-8 or UTF-8 Unicode character set in Latin or non-Latin scripts.	No	Yes (bibliographic records only)
Export records in Dublin Core format	Yes	Yes	Yes Bibliographic records, Dublin Core Qualified in XML with the UTF-8 Unicode character set.	No	No
Export records in MARCXML format	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Export records in MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) format	Yes (bibliographic records only)	Yes (bibliographic records only)	No	No	No

Databases and files

	WorldShare Record Manager	WorldShare Record Manager simplified	Connexion client	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Access WorldCat®	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Access LC Name and Subject Authority Files, including distributed and superseded versions of records	Yes Access to additional authority files, including: AAT (Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus) BNE (Biblioteca Nacional de España) Canadiana (French Names and Canadian Subjects) FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) GND Authorities (German Integrated Authority file) LC (Library of Congress) Māori Subject Headings MeSH Authorities (Medical Subject Headings) NTA Names (Dutch Names) RVM (Répertoire de vedettes-matière)	No	Yes	Yes	No
Use online save file stored locally for temporary record storage	Yes Shared between Connexion and Record Manager.	No	Yes Shared between Connexion and Record Manager.	No	No
Use offline save file stored locally for temporary record storage	No	No	Yes	No	No

System access

	WorldShare Record Manager	WorldShare Record Manager simplified	Connexion client	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Set and delete WorldCat holdings for other libraries using agent or group functionality	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Maintain local holdings records (LHRs) for other libraries using agent or group functionality	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Store user-specific customization	Yes Set preferences for each user.	Yes Set preferences for each user.	Yes Set preferences for each user of the workstation.	No	No

Miscellaneous

	WorldShare Record Manager	WorldShare Record Manager simplified	Connexion client	Z39.50 Cataloging	WorldCat Metadata API
Macros	No. However, some functions commonly performed using Connexion macros are available under Advanced Actions.	No	Yes	No	No
Dewey Cutter tools	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Interface language	English French Chinese - Simplified Chinese - Traditional German Italian Japanese Korean Spanish Dutch	English French Chinese - Simplified Chinese - Traditional German Italian Japanese Korean Spanish Dutch	English Chinese - Simplified Chinese - Traditional German Japanese Korean Spanish	Language independent	N/A
Cataloging statistics	Institution summary statistics available within the Analytics tab of your library’s WorldShare interface.	Institution summary statistics available within the Analytics tab of your library’s WorldShare interface.	Institution summary and cataloger specific statistics available at the OCLC Usage Statistics site.	Institution summary and cataloger specific statistics available at the OCLC Usage Statistics site.	Institution summary statistics available within the Analytics tab of your library’s WorldShare interface.