I fear that some of today's contributions (though not all) on this subject have taken a very limited view of OPACs.
Will any self-respecting OPAC of the future not give access to www.whichbook.net and (in London)
www.londonlibraries.org.uk/will/ - and for that matter http://blpc.bl.uk/, www.m25lib.ac.uk/ or http://copac.ac.uk/copac/?
Will catalogue entries not contain hyperlinks to authors' websites, or film-of-the-book websites like www.bloomsburymagazine.com/harrypotter and http://harrypotter.warnerbros.co.uk/home.html?
Will information resources available over the web, like http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/Woodhouse/ to quote a particularly well digitised example, not be "catalogued" alongside their hard-copy equivalents, and why should you not be able to get these resources simply to appear on the screen when you click in the right place, as opposed to having to go to another "People's Network" terminal somewhere else in the library to look at them?
I quite accept that there is a need for some terminals at all libraries which give access only to a very simple record of what items the Library Authority holds to enable quick enquiries to be made, but it would be a great mistake not to offer proper fully-functional web-enabled OPACs as well, which gives you the opportunity to explore fully what you can get through your local library, either on-line or via ILL.
After all, isn't broadening people's horizons about what they can get from any public library what we are all about? About 20 years ago we moved from card/sheaf catalogues which just told you what was in stock at your local branch, to on-line versions which tell you what is in stock of the entire library authority or consortium. Is not telling you what is available in the UK or on planet earth the next step?
Peter Marshall
Project Development Librarian
Bexley Council
Tel: 020 8309 4135 (Direct Line)
email: [log in to unmask]
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