OPAC

From Free net encyclopedia

An Online Public Access Catalog or OPAC is a computerized online catalog of the materials held in a library. The library staff and the public can usually access it at several computer terminals within the library, or from home via the Internet. Since the mid-1980s, it has replaced the card catalog in most libraries. Since the mid-1990s, character-based OPAC interfaces are being replaced by Web-based interfaces. OPACs are often part of an integrated library system.

Most bibliographic records in an OPAC are linked to the giant OCLC WorldCat database, which is a catalog of materials held at collaborating public and private libraries worldwide. WorldCat only shows whether a given item is owned by a library system. It does not break down information by branch library or show which copies are currently on loan to users. WorldCat users must connect to a library's own OPAC to see that information. OCLC WorldCat is not technically an OPAC itself; it is a database searchable by library personnel whose institutions have a paid subscription to OCLC's services. It is not typically searchable by the general public unless their local library subscribes to the OCLC FirstSearch reference service.

OCLC WorldCat is also searchable via search engines like Google and Yahoo, see how to search OCLC Open WorldCat.

Most integrated library systems offer a Windows-based OPAC module as a standard capability or optional feature. OPAC modules rely on pulldown menus, popup windows, dialog boxes, mouse operations, and other graphical user interface components to simplify the entry of search commands and formatting of retrieved information.

[edit]

OPAC vendors

es:OPAC fr:Online public access catalog it:OPAC ja:OPAC zh:OPAC

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/OPAC"