Page 139 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Library Automation

Notes

Notes The mode of interaction has been developed to the point of conversational, adaptive
dialogue and the bibliographic format can be tailored according to user preference.
Operational assistance such as automatic, context-based correction is also available.

Fourth-generation Online Catalogues

Beginning from the late 1980s, a most recent development in online public access catalogues has
been achieved in providing easy access to bibliographic information by using graphical user
interfaces (GUIs) such as Windows. These systems, which can be considered as fourth-generation
catalogues, have moved away from the traditional menu-type interfaces and are more associated
with client server and graphical user interface. They use WIMP (windows, icons, mouse and
pointers) interfaces to speed and simplify searching. With the Windows-style user interface
available through PCs (personal computers, i.e., intelligent, and not dumb terminals), there is
much more functionality. In these systems the user has the flexibility to click on various buttons,
each of which carries a special function. Nevertheless, these systems do not eliminate but augment
the keystroke access. There is also the possibility of using function keys for different purposes
when keyboards are involved. In general, access is via mouse or keyboard or a combination of
both.
Searching capabilities in the Windows version of OPACs are greater than those found in other
generations of online catalogues. Pointer capabilities allow the searcher to select exactly the
term he/she is looking for, while pull-down menus provide additional options to make searching
even more useful. By using scroll bars and pull-down menus, browsing in different indexes is
very simple. With the capability of post-Boolean searching, the search software also attempts to
interpret users’ search requests in order to present matches of greater or lesser interest to the
user. This is called relevance ranking of the search terms, similar to second and third generation
online catalogues, these systems search for terms through using an implicit Boolean ‘AND’.
Other Boolean operators such as ‘OR’ and ‘NOT’ can also be used to narrow down search results
or such search strings can be constructed using the mouse alone. In addition, access has been
enhanced by text retrieval qualifiers such as ‘language’, ‘date’ and ‘form’ of the text. With this
feature, it is possible to include new data elements that help in the better identification of the
sought item. Integral or add-on text retrieval modules to provide range searching, related term
searching, wild card features, adjacency and proximity are supplied by some systems.
One of the recent additional advanced features of fourth-generation OPACs is the ‘hypertext’
function. Through this function, any word that the user selects or highlights can be used to
search all the fields and subfields in all the records in the database for any occurrence of that
word. This dynamic feature helps the searcher to navigate the database to find more relevant
sources of information.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
9. The global network is the Internet including various PACS components.

10. Derived from circulation or cataloguing systems, second-generation online catalogues
were in fact computerised card catalogues with almost the same traditional features.
11. First-generation online catalogues are a departure from traditional card catalogues and
incorporate many new features for the provision of effective access.
12. Interfaces are usually in three modes.

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