As a catalogue, WorldCat is accessible only by subscription. An institutional affiliation is required. Resources can be retrievable only through affiliated libraries and library systems.Visitors can find detailed information on its features.
WorldCat is available to libraries and library groups that maintain a subscription to the WorldCat database via the OCLC FirstSearch reference service
Visitors and non-members can retrieve comprehensive descriptions of the WorldCat service but they cannot access the actual database
Being part of the OCLC website, links to other OCLC products and services are directly accessible with a well-developed internal links, whilst no external linking is provided