11/18/2013 Update: Important: The WSU Libraries migrated from WSU WorldCat/WorldCat Local to Search It/Primo in mid-December 2013. Griffin and WSU WorldCat links will no longer work, and if you have a WSU WorldCat account you will still be able to see your saved items if you log in to Open WorldCat (www.worldcat.org), but saved lists and saved searches in WSU Worldcat did not transfer to Search It (although Search It has something similar: see the EShelf). You can still see and search WSU WorldCat, but you'll see it is not fully functional - click here. Summit is still functional; you can find it here.
I really, really love WorldCat lists. I use them all the time - saving books I want to purchase; identifying new books or other resources for specific subjects or classes that I can drop into a webpage, blog, or LibGuide; keeping a list (well, a partial list!) of books I've read each year. To create a list you will need a WorldCat Account. Lists have RSS feeds, so they are very flexible! You can also search for lists by title or title word - see the option under the Search menu. (See the Creating Widgets and Search Boxes tab on this Guide for instructions on how to make your list into a cute embeddable widget.)
Lists can be public or private, and can have descriptions. Here's a creative use of WorldCat lists - note how the description provides context (although perhaps the title says it all?). Each item in a list can have a note - this is distinct from any reviews you or others might have added.
Both of the videos on this page are from the WorldCatUser YouTube channel.
IMPORTANT! Remember that your account and lists are not tied to your specific university/college/other version of WorldCat Local (note this list is on my WorldCat local catalog and here it is at WorldCat.org and at the UW's WorldCat). If you are on WorldCat.org, or using a WorldCat Local catalog that is not your own, you can still sign in to your WorldCat account and save items to lists, etc. The exception to this is accessing subscription-based content. For example, I saved an article from the WSU WorldCat to a WorldCat list. Later on, I went to UW's WorldCat and signed in with my WorldCat account. When I clicked on the journal article in my list, I was prompted to sign in to the University of Washington Libraries proxy server to continue (which of course I was unable to do, not being a member of the (current !) UW community).
