In a sense, the OPAC of the 21st Century is the Card Catalog of generations before. An OPAC is literally an online public access catalog. In other words, it is an organized list of all the materials housed in a library or group of libraries (as is the case in colleges and universities, for example) that can be accessed "at a computer within the library or from home" (Wikipedia, 2007). Moreover, OPAC's are Web-based interfaces that are an integral part of an integrated library system (Wikipedia, 2007; Unit 5 Part 1b, 2007). More precisely, the OPAC is the "public face on a library's Integrated Library System" (Butterfield, 2003, p. 2270), which controls circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, the OPAC, and Interlibrary loan (Butterfield, 2003).
Typically, OPAC's allow patrons to search for material by keyword, title, author, subject, call number, ISSN/ISBN, and so on. (The search can be a lot more involved depending on the organization. That is, an academic library will have more advanced search features than a school library, for instance). And each item in the catalog is attached to a MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC) record, which is "a standard for representation and communication of bibliographic information in a machine readable form" (Unit 5 Part 1a, 2007). And "machine readable" means that "a computer can read, interpret, and manipulate the data in the catalog records" (Unit 5 Part 1a, 2007). Essentially, what the patron is doing every time he/she uses the OPAC is searching through a database of MARC records.
How the OPAC is used in libraries
"In its most simple form, a library's OPAC could consist of nothing more than a simple index of the bibliographic data cataloged in the system. More complex OPACs offer a variety of search capabilities on several indexes, integrate rich content (book covers, video clips, etc.), and offer interactive request and renewal functionality" (Wikipedia, 2007). Thus, OPAC's today are designed to meet the searching needs and abilities of patrons. The following screen shots illustrate the difference in sophistication in OPAC's between an elementary school library, a public library, and an academic library.
The Anne Arundel County Public Elementary Schools OPAC is very simple and straightforward. The students are able to search the catalog by using the keyword, author, title, and subject (see red rectangle). The OPAC does have some advanced features for students including "Online Databases" and "Multilingual Pac" (see green rectangle). The "Multilingual Pac" is interesting and unique in that students are able to search the OPAC in Spanish or French as well.
Indisputably, the search features of the Pima County Library's (PCPL's) OPAC are more advanced than those of the elementary public school's OPAC. Patrons are able to search the catalog by keyword, title, author, subject, call number, ISBN/ISSN, or OCLC (see red circle). They also have the option of doing a more advanced search (see teal rectangle) that uses Boolean logic. Moreover, PCPL's OPAC also provides other features such as "In need of a good read?," "Can't find what you're looking for," and "Other resources we offer:" in order to refine the search (see purple rectangles).
But even more sophisticated are the OPAC features of the University of Arizona Libraries. This OPAC not only allows the patron to do a search by keyword, title, author, etc. (see red circle) but also allows him/her to refine the search using Boolean operators (see purple rectangle). The library also offers the patron help by using "Subject guides," "Reference Resources," "Research Assistance," and so on (see green rectangle).
Social impact of the technology
It is interesting to note that in the beginning, OPAC's were not intended to make patrons searches easier, which is now the case. No, the OPAC "was simply seen as a better, faster way to realize desirable system and cost efficiencies" (Butterfield, 2003, p. 2268).
Today, OPAC's are definitely a tool that patrons use to access information. However, in an age where more and more patrons are relying heavily on search engines like Google that use natural language, the OPAC's "precoordinated subject heading system" can be quite complicated (Butterfield, 2003). OPAC's are the "Vocabulary Problem" personified. However, a well designed OPAC can make a searcher's life so much easier!
References
Butterfield, K. (2003). Online Public Access Catalogs. Class reading.
Unit 5 Part 1a. (2007). Class lecture.
Unit 5 Part 1b. (2007). Class lecture.
Wikipedia. (2007). OPAC. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPAC
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