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Unit 7: Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

with the work or manifestations of a work may not be distinguished in the way these names are Notes
displayed on the screen in conjunction with the title of the work. Therefore, the user may miss
what he/she is seeking.

Access and Availability

Unlike in a manual system, the user of the online catalogue has access to bibliographic, circulation,
acquisition, holdings and location information at the same terminal, whether within the library
or in other libraries through remote access. Again, this capability may be an indication of the
need for uniformity and standardisation of data elements and also the importance of integrity in
the structure of different files in the system.
In contrast to the possibilities for online consultation, card technology is a strictly localised
medium with many physical restrictions to its use. Almost all libraries have a single set of
catalogue cards for a document. To some extent a book catalogue or a COM catalogue might
help in making the library catalogue available in different locations but these catalogues are
costly to update at regular intervals, particularly when the collection is very large.
Unlike the card catalogue, the online catalogue is accessible through terminals located in different
places in the library and outside the library via local area networks (LANs) and wide area
networks (WANs). In the online environment it is possible for different users, whether inside
the library building or outside it, to use the catalogue online and to even search the same record
simultaneously. In terms of access to library catalogues, distance has now become irrelevant.
Technology has enabled us to have decentralised access to bibliographic information.
Interconnectivity is one of the most important goals of libraries today and can take different
forms. Many library catalogues are now accessible through the different tools in the Internet
such as Netscape, Gopher, Mosaic and Telnet. This is a great advantage over the manual system
and will continue to expand with further developments in telecommunication allied to a decrease
in telecommunication costs. There is also more flexibility with interconnectivity for the searcher
to go from one catalogue to another. This is done through the same catalogue or other catalogues
which have a WWW forms-based interface.

Task Critically examine the Web-based online public access catalogues of IIT libraries
in India.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
13. The …………………… has made possible the enriching of the structure and contents of
bibliographic records.
14. …………………… has significantly contributed to the growth of library automation and
to the development of online catalogues.
15. Uniformity and consistency are basic requirements for effective …………………… control.
16. …………………… has been considered as an important feature of the recent online catalogue
in the sense that different parts of the library automated system are integrated through the
use and manipulation of the same record as the basis for different library operations.

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