[561] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Post-OPAC Era
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Tue Jun 23 09:50:23 1992
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1992 08:46:01 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
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 informa-
tion resources. I'm not sure that we can fully make that shift if we
continue to think (whether consciously or subconsciously) of an in-
formation 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 con-
trol 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 repre-
sented 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
