Worldcat Holdings Question

[watrwest]

Greetings…
For many years I have been curious about an odd situation on OCLC / WorldCat.

Some listings come up but with the notation

           “Sorry, no libraries with the specified item were found.”

This url is an example…
https://www.worldcat.org/title/first-me-church-boulder-colorado-cook-book-of-tested-recipes/oclc/903...

These WC descriptions are usually quite detailed leading me to think

that someone, somewhere, sometime actually cataloged a physical book into WC.

The OCLC FAQ includes:
[quote]
Does OCLC remove bibliographic records from WorldCat if they do not have attached holdings?
Answer
No, records without holdings are not deleted. WorldCat contains many such records. In line with its mission to represent as many resources possible, OCLC retains these records to vouch for the existence of the item. This also allows libraries to set holdings on the record in the future without having to catalog again.
[endquote]

Could the person who entered it into WC have been working from an old 3x5 card catalog?
Has WC transcribed the entirety of the National Union Catalog?

(with over 12,000,000 entries on 528,000 pages that seems “unlikely”).
Old volumes of Bookman’s Price Index or American Book Prices Current?
(I don’t remember those being especially detailed… but it’s been decades since I used one)

Any guesses would be welcome.

[taylor_memorial]

I know of no connection between RR Bowker (Books in Print) and Worldcat, which would be the reasonable explanation for the crossover which you suggest. There might be one, but . . . 

I think a simpler explanation is this: libraries do, on occasion, close their doors. It wouldn't take much to remove a set of records from a closed library should the WorldCat be wont to do so. 

The other one which comes to mind is the author/publisher informs WorldCat of the bibliographic data. 

[jmgrobe]

There are two versions of Worldcat available: the public version which you cited and the member's version available to all the libraries who have joined Worldcat and often to  their patrons. What happens is that many libraries do not list their holdings in the public version but do list them in the member's version. So in checking your title in the member's version I find it available in one library: The Degolyer library at Southern Methodist University. At that library the listing is at:

https://smu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma9945502273403716&context=L&vid=0...

[jmgrobe]

To Sign onto the Member's version go to

https://firstsearch.oclc.org/html/login_en.html

A few libraries have posted their logon information. Do a Google search for:

"oclc.org" "Authorization" "Password" "100-"

[bugler1998]

The last time I regularly went in to the local library branch was with my kids, maybe 20 tears ago.

While waiting I would search for my own interests, which included.  I eventually read them all, plus those about George Burns, his friend.

All were on the shelves until a recent visit before the library rebuild.  All but one were no longer on the shelves, likely because most young people did not know him.

Think about books of the 1800s.  Do you really want to read most of them?  Many have gone through the hands of folks like our own Taylor Memorial.

[lux-libri]

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@jmgrobe wrote:

To Sign onto the Member's version go to

https://firstsearch.oclc.org/html/login_en.html

A few libraries have posted their logon information. Do a Google search for:

"oclc.org" "Authorization" "Password" "100-"

---

Looks like there have been recent changes, and the Member's version can no longer be accessed in the same way.