Why do we still have an OPAC?

Recently, my consortium’s OPAC User Group had what I can only call a “bitchfest” about the state of our OPAC. It seems like all the complaints just started to come out of the woodwork, this doesn’t work or that hasn’t been fixed or I’ve had this ticket open since forever. It was actually sort of painful to put yourself in the shoes of the OPAC’s staff.

Later, someone sent an email about a different subject that repeatedly praised the benefits of using WorldCat over our own online catalog.

So I put A and B together.

Why are we still using our own search interfaces? If Google, WorldCat, orÂ insert-web-2.0-solution hereÂ is so much better why do we keep purchasing online catalog modules from closed source vendors that we hate?

Open WorldCat would seem to have it all. Lots of libraries combined in one interface. Easily narrowing by subject, language or format and even a limited review and tagging module. Why don’t libraries just all upload their data into a central place where it can be formatted by people who know more about this stuff than we do?

Technorati Tags: worldcat, opac, Library 2.0

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Published:: 07.25.07 / 1pm

Category:: Catalogs, Library

GeekChic 07.25.07 / 11pm

Why don’t more libraries use “World”Cat? Two reasons: 1) They can’t afford OCLC’s charges (like the consortium that I used to work with). 2) Members of consortia don’t display properly in WorldCat Local. Sites that are using it report that patrons are directed to the consortial head office and not the nearest branch (which is a major issue for large consortia).

#2 can probably be fixed – but #1 is a major stumbling block (OCLC may claim to be a non-profit but it doesn’t act like one).

benjamin 07.28.07 / 11am

Oddâ€¦ my consortia (odinlibrary.org) displays fine in WorldCat. You can easily separate each library.

I agree, however, that OCLC walks a fine line between profit and non-profit. That said, WorldCat is not necessarily the only solution. At least I hope not.

GeekChic 07.28.07 / 7pm

Glad to hear that your version of WorldCat Local is working well. That will give the others that I know are using it hope that the issue will be solved for them.

OCLC is indeed not the only solution – but it is the one that is most frequently mentioned. Sometimes it is the only idea mentioned.

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Why do we still have an OPAC?

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