On 6/6/06, Sloan, Bernie <bernies_at_uillinois.edu> wrote:
> This new list reminds me of a note I posted to the PACS-L listserv
> nearly 14 years ago. In that note I talked about the idea of a post-OPAC
> era. Maybe we are finally ready to embrace that concept? :-)
>
> The text of my 1992 posting follows...comments welcomed! :-)
I'm not a librarian. I'm mostly a wannabe-superpatron. As such, I
don't have a good picture of where OPACs fit into overall library
systems, or even what problems it tries to solve. All I see is the
generally-poor UI over faceted search. But perhaps my ignorance will
be a good way to draw out explanations and understanding of what an
OPAC is, what a next gen catalog should be, and how to get from here
to there.
So, what's an OPAC do anyway? How's it used? What's in it? Why do
passionate and technical librarians want to abandon what's come before
and make a whole new thing, with a new (or no) acronym to boot?
Received on Tue Jun 06 2006 - 23:29:20 EDT