Page 136 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Unit 7: Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

environment not only are the information tools different from the traditional tools but also the Notes
whole concept of access to bibliographic information has changed.

!

Caution Time and location are irrelevant in searching the online environment.
7.3.1 Developments and Directions of Online Catalogues

As a result of a significant growth in scientific and technological information after the Second
World War and a resulting expansion in library collections, manual systems could no longer
respond effectively to the ever-growing information needs of society. In terms of fast and
effective retrieval of bibliographic information, the card catalogue had many disadvantages. Its
large size, complexity and high costs of maintenance made it more and more difficult for
libraries to maintain as an up to date searching tool (Freedman, 1979a; Guilford, 1979; Matthews,
1985; Reynolds, 1985). It became obvious that a more flexible tool was needed to cope with the
new conditions of libraries. It was thus necessary to think of alternative ways of constructing
library catalogues that could be cost-effective, manageable and easy to use. Following on the
application of computers in other fields, librarians became assured that the computer’s theoretical
capability to control library operations constituted adequate grounds for embracing a mechanised
approach (Hazen, 1981: 30). As Weihs and Howarth (1988: 41) point out, “It was necessary to
investigate the computer as a relatively cost-effective tool to provide library catalogues.”
Computer applications, however, first occurred in library activities other than the provision of
public access to the catalogue. Computers were used in libraries mainly for housekeeping types
of activities such as circulation control, acquisitions and serial control. This did not directly
affect patrons’ access to the library catalogue (Matthews, 1985: 3). Library automation began in
the early 1960s with the rationale that “If a job could be done by computer, then the number of
staff required to work at a defined level of expertise could be reduced” (Montague, 1978: 313).

Although some evidence of automation of library operations other than cataloguing is reported
from the 1950s and 1960s (Reynolds, 1985), it is the MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloguing)
project that has been considered as one of the most important factors in the development of
automated catalogues (Weihs and Howarth, 1988: 41). With the beginning of the MARC
Distribution Service in 1969, large libraries began to utilise MARC magnetic tapes mainly for
automated cataloguing in the standard form provided by the Library of Congress. The usefulness
of MARC services in cataloguing, along with the increasing availability of computer technology
in the late 1960s, led to more developments in automated catalogues.
In response to the needs of small and medium-sized libraries without access to a mainframe
computer, centralised cataloguing services gave way to the establishment of bibliographic
utilities in the early 1970s. The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC, formerly the Ohio
College Library Center), established in 1971, has been considered to be a significant factor in the
development of automated catalogues. With the standard cataloguing services of such
bibliographic utilities, libraries were able to utilise the power of computer technology in a cost-
effective way. The proliferation of MARC-based cataloguing led to the realisation of the
importance of uniform, standardised bibliographic description as the nucleus of bibliographic
services at national and international levels. The growth of bibliographic utilities in the early
1980s as well as developments in telecommunication technology accelerated the move toward
centralised MARC-based cataloguing and the need for standardised descriptive cataloguing.
A significant factor further affecting the development of online catalogues was that some libraries
began to use MARC bibliographic information for their circulation systems in an online mode.
Using short bibliographic records rather than full MARC records for circulation operations, a

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 131