Information on the transition from Griffin to WSU WorldCat

You can now access library materials through a new search system, WSU WorldCat. The Griffin system will continue to be available for your use. This information should help you decide which of the two search systems will work best for you.

WSU WorldCat is a good starting point for your general searches. It searches the holdings of all WSU libraries. It also searches the holdings of 35 regional partner libraries in the Summit consortium. You can request most books and media items held by WSU and by Summit libraries through WSU WorldCat. Items will be available for pickup at the location that you designate in about five days.

Unlike Griffin, WSU WorldCat provides access to a large number of indexed journal articles. Currently, 66 million journal article records are in WSU WorldCat, covering topics such as medicine (PubMed), education (ERIC), and on general research topics (ArticleFirst and British Library Serials).

It’s important to note that the article records in WSU WorldCat do not represent all of the online journal content that the WSU Libraries make available. For information on the electronic resources that the Libraries offer, see this articles and indexes page. You may also want to consult this subject resources page.

Currently, Griffin is the best place to search for:

• Library reserves materials
• Unique materials held by the Libraries (primarily in its Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections unit)
• A specific item (for example, if you know the exact title) that you cannot quickly locate in WSU WorldCat
• Items held on a specific WSU campus (example, WSU Vancouver) or at a specific library location (example, the Owen Library Reference collection)
• Items held at WSU's Energy Library

Finally, the WSU WorldCat system will continue to be enhanced in the future, whereas the existing Griffin system’s functionality will remain essentially static. Additional article indexes, such as EBSCOhost, will be added to WSU WorldCat in the coming months. The look-and-feel and functionality of WSU WorldCat will continue to be improved through an active usability program led by WorldCat’s software vendor, OCLC.