[Web4lib] Role of the OPAC (was: library automation vendors)

[Sloan, Bernie]

Ross Singer's note gives me an opportunity to dust off a posting I sent
to PACS-L a little more than 13 years ago, where I ask about a post-OPAC
era. :-)

The posting is reproduced below:

Date:         Tue, 23 Jun 1992 08:46:01 CDT
Reply-To:     Public-Access Computer Systems Forum
Sender:       Public-Access Computer Systems Forum
From:         Public-Access Computer Systems Forum
Subject:      Post-OPAC Era
FROM: AXPBBGS --UICVMC
 From: Bernie Sloan
 Subject: The post-OPAC era
 
I've been following the discussion of "third generation OPACs" with
interest, and thought I might contribute my two-cents-worth.
 
The idea probably isn't original or novel, but it struck me that perhaps
we might want to start thinking in terms of a post-OPAC age. Many people
have commented on the paradigm shift that will be put in motion by
expanded and enhanced access to electronic information resources. I'm
not sure that we can fully make that shift if we continue to think
(whether consciously or subconsciously) of an information universe that
revolves around the OPAC.
 
I don't think that anyone would argue too strongly with the contention
that OPACs started out as automated card catalogs. Granted, OPACs were a
vast improvement over manual card catalogs, but they were still an
extension of a manual system that was established to manage or control a
library's in-house resources. OPACs (and their card catalog
predecessors) were not designed to cope with the myriad of networked
electronic resources that people are confronted with today. Should we
try, for example, to force the electronic journal to fit into a format
and way of thinking that were designed for the printed word?
 
We all need to start thinking of OPACs as a PART of the solution, rather
than as THE solution. More and more, information will be represented and
presented in ways that were largely not considered when OPACs started to
be developed. Does it really make sense to try to manage access to
images, non-bibliographic data, etc., through the OPAC?
 
There will always be OPACs (or their equivalents) to help people manage
the flow of information. But efforts in the post-OPAC era should be
aimed at developing gateways to information resources, of which the OPAC
is only a part.
 
One of the program titles at the upcoming ALA conference is "Images in
the OPAC: a program on how image databases can be mounted as part of the
online catalog". The description for another program notes that the
program "will stimulate discussion regarding the nature of the catalog
as it changes from a tool for finding local holdings to one that
provides the patron a 'one stop information store'". It may be
semi-iconoclastic, but should we be trying to retool the OPAC to play a
broader role that might perhaps be better filled by developing gateway
technologies (WAIS, Internet gopher, etc)?
 
Bernie Sloan

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Ross Singer
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 9:30 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Role of the OPAC (was: library automation vendors)

I think Jim Campbell and David Walker have raised an extremely good
point.

In the context of the modern library (and this includes all types of
libraries), what /is/ the role of the OPAC?  What is its purpose?  Is
there a reason it is segregated from other electronic resources?

I'm very curious to hear from various corners of the profession on this
one because, honestly, I have having an extremely hard time figuring out
the utility of the catalog as a public interface.

Thanks,
-Ross.

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