[Web4lib] How to label the OPAC

[K.G. Schneider]

> I suppose you'd have to count anyone looking for material types other
> than books, that *are* in the catalog; anyone looking for books that
> *aren't* in the catalog; and anyone looking for books, that are in the
> catalog, but with search needs that can only be met in some other
> database (books are indexed in databases like PsyINFO for a reason).

Then there are those types we amusingly call "serial publications" (when we
don't call them "periodicals") where we put the name of the material type in
the catalog and the guts in several other separate databases. I've seen many
heroic attempts to fjord this usability gulf but the solutions tend to be
opac-centric. 

All this, and in the usability discussion that just took place we tiptoed
around the elephant in the living room, which is for all the talk about
labels, etc. etc. etc, the OPAC is one of the last citation databases,
something that becomes harder to explain in light of projects such as Google
Print. Not to give the devil his due, but Google Print, when it develops,
may end up making the OPAC look as quaint as lead type and have the rest of
the world asking why we even bother. 

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com