# /research/researchworks/audience/default.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/audience/default.htm

# Learn more about the Audience Level Prototype This prototype system, developed in conjunction with the Audience Level research project, uses library holdings data in WorldCat to calculate audience levels for books represented in the WorldCat database. The audience level is then expressed as a decimal between 0.01 (juvenile books) and 1.00 (scholarly research works). The Audience Level prototype is accessible in two ways: a user interface web services which accept either OCLC number, ISBN or ISSN ## Try it out Access the Audience Level prototype and input an OCLC WorldCat number, an ISBN (international Standard Book Number), or an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) for a periodical. (See sidebar for additional information on how to find one of these numbers.) The system will return an assessment of the likely audience level of the item based on the holding patterns and bibliographic characteristics of the item, as described in the WorldCat record. This assessment is represented numerically, along with title, author, and a summary of the WorldCat holdings used to calculate the audience level of the item. The audience-level assessment also is represented graphically by a bar chart. More information about the audience-level calculation is available by clicking on the "Manifestations" link that appears on the chart. This will display a list of all the different physical realizations of the work used to calculate its audience level. (Be aware! Some works—such as those near the top of the OCLC Top 1000 list—have thousands of manifestations. Worksets such as these can take several moments to load into your browser.) Manifestation-level data displayed include OCLC number for each manifestation, language and date of the manifestation, and number of libraries holding the manifestation. ## More than a pretty user interface In addition to the user interface described above, the Audience Level prototype is available as a web service: ### Web service The Audience Level web service is available from:
    http://audiencelevel.oclc.org/AudienceLevel/webServ/
for returning XML from OCLC database number inputs, and from:
    http://audiencelevel.oclc.org/AudienceLevel/webISBNServ/
for returning XML from ISBNs. #### Example: The URL string:
    http://audiencelevel.oclc.org/AudienceLevel/webISBNServ/0716601036
will produce the audience-level assessment for T he World Book Encyclopedia workset (0.08)responding to the input of the ISBN 0-7166-091936. ## Overview The Audience Level prototype and its related research project are part of a broader data mining activity at OCLC Research, which seeks to explore various ways to leverage intelligence from system files, and "make data work harder." Determining a monograph's audience level is a challenge because cataloging rules generally do not require inclusion of this information. Thus, many bibliographic records have no explicit indicator of target audience. OCLC researchers hypothesized that audience level could be inferred from the types of library (such as Association of Research Libraries (ARL), non-ARL academic, public, and school) holding the material. ## Let us know what you're thinking! Because this is a research prototype, we are interested in your feedback. Send us your ideas. ## Additional resources Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Edward T. O'Neill and Chandra Prabha. 2004. "Estimating Audience Level of Monographs Using Holding Patterns in WorldCat". Presentation given at Library Research Seminar III: Learning and Growing; Inquiry into Librarianship, 14–16 October 2004, Kansas City, Missouri (USA). Available online at http://www.oclc.org/research/presentations/connaway/lrsIII_audience.ppt (PowerPoint:32MB/29slides). ## Research Team Lynn Silipigni Connaway Ed O'Neill Jeremy Browning Timothy J. Dickey |
Terms and conditions Use of this site is subject to OCLC's terms and conditions. By continuing past this point, you agree to abide by these terms.
Additional information Related OCLC Research projects Audience Level project Data Mining project Where can I find an ISBN, ISSN, or OCLC WorldCat number? ISBNs and ISSNs appear on records in many library catalogs. ISBNs and ISSNs also are displayed on many WorldCat records, which can be located through WorldCat.org or WorldCat partner sites. Online bookstores frequently display ISBNs for specific titles. OCLC numbers appear on records in WorldCat and other FirstSearch databases. Some library catalogs may display OCLC numbers for individual titles.