Open WorldCat: Book Buying Pilot and Virtual Reference Links

Some more information is starting to filter out regarding the Open WorldCat book buying pilot. An announcement posted to OCLC-CAT refcently had a bit more detail than that link. Here's an excerpt.

Each time a Web searcher purchases a book through Open WorldCat, a portion of the proceeds will be shared with Open WorldCat libraries in one of two ways. The purchaser decides online whether to apply a credit directly to the account of a selected Open WorldCat participant library or to redirect the credit to support the ongoing development of Open WorldCat for the benefit of all participating libraries.
In the introductory phase of book purchasing through Open WorldCat, Baker & Taylor is the single supplier of books. Baker & Taylor will sell books from its current inventory of over 500,000 titles. The book buying option will be visible initially to users in the United States. OCLC hopes to expand this feature to other content formats and additional partners, and to libraries outside the United States in the future. OCLC will pursue the best prices and discounts available for consumers, who will identify their library as part of the transaction.

Like I said in a comment to another post, I've always been a little iffy about the marriage of business transactions and libraries, but we'll see what happens.

Now, onto something I'm not iffy about, virtual reference. Everyone take a peek at this and let me know if there is interest in listing our virtual reference services. I'm our Open WorldCat contact, so I can get the necessary changes made. We'd need to have a single access page, so it would probably have to wait until the Web site re-design, but it's definitely something to think about. I've seen the links in Open WorldCat records and I'm thrilled by the visibility it could afford us.