A Review of Library Online Public Access Catalog Systems

This report delves into the evolution and functionality of Library Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs), examining their role in providing access to library resources through the internet. It explores the design of search interfaces, the development and advantages of mobile applications for OPACs, and the user experience with a focus on the differences between experienced and novice users. The report reviews existing literature, highlighting the importance of user-friendly interfaces and the shift toward search paradigms similar to canonical web search engines. It discusses the challenges in OPAC design, the benefits of mobile applications, and the impact of the internet on information access. The report also analyzes the differences in search behavior between experienced and novice users, emphasizing the need for intuitive interfaces and effective search functionalities. The analysis provides insights into the future of library catalogs and the potential for enhanced user experiences.

Running head: LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author Note

1LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Literature review:.............................................................................................................................3
Designing search interfaces:........................................................................................................3
Mobile application development:................................................................................................5
Development of such applications:..............................................................................................7
User and impact of the internet:...................................................................................................8
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10
Reference:......................................................................................................................................12

2LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
Introduction:
Nowadays, Most of the libraries developed their own customized OPAC for enabling
suitable interface to browse library resources through internet. Rather than providing limited
service to some specific university or campus, libraries are offering worldwide access to global
information resources. Most of the cases, resources are vast amount of digital and physical
content. Many researcher are trying to enhance the interface design for browsing effectively by
practicing digital and physical information spaces. OPAC interfaces offer convenient access to
library resources while act as public library. This is one of the most highlighted significance of
the OPAC interface. Generally, users browse those interfaces to find information about their
desired content. However, most of the interfaces lacks to provide optimal functionality and
result. The practices of physical and digital contents are still in actions for developing a better
interface. Several published literatures ware reviewed in order to understand and evaluate the
interaction between the scholars and interfaces. Some of the literatures provide useful insights
related to the identified topic. Even though it is a broad topic, this paper will focus on value of
alternative in-situ approaches for systematic library research. The main critical issues occurred to
impart media library through the support of in-situ and systematic search in public libraries.
Most recent researches confirm that, peoples find hard to browse the OPAC interfaces
comparing to the canonical web search engines. It is often found that, interfaces are unable to
provide information about any certain content which is already presented in the library resources.
Current trends in OPAC interface design go toward search paradigms as exemplified by
canonical web-search engines. This approach can lessen the gap between the visitor’s
expectations and reality. Peoples are more familiar with canonical web search than critical web-
research. Additionally, the general OPAC interfaces does not provide efficient functionality such

3LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
as category specifications, search criteria and other filtering options which could provide optimal
usability for better experience.
Literature review:
Designing search interfaces:
The typical role of the Libraries has evolved to whole another level. Libraries are not just
used for accessing information in physical form, nowadays most of the libraries provides
information in several data format such as video, presentation and many more. To overcome the
interaction issues, some old researches provides promising result after analyzing the collective
Diver which could be combined with touch interaction and a large display. Uta and other co-
authors in their article describes and showcase a qualitative analysis on common OPAC interface
and a collective driver. They also compared the search activities of both of the interfaces. The
collective Driver consists of many useful functionality which enables user experience sharing
facilities, provides a transparent search process, make the systematic search more effective and
promotes active approaches.
The interaction between human and OPAC interfaces can be enhanced though proper
development of smart technologies. According to the authors, technologies such as RFID sensor,
tangible tokens and direct touch display can provide rich experience for the visitors. Even though
many old literatures provides multiple perceptions and alternatives to general the search
interface. The development process is running very slowly. The advanced interface for example
typically incorporate large displays to upsurge awareness of the search processes among group
members and to facilitate shared interactions. They also developed an advanced interface with
multiple functionality to ease the search process. The advanced catalog was designed by

4LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
simplifying some modification and interaction techniques of the Boolean logic to enable intuitive
use. They also obtained a contextual inquiry by gathering information from 75 visitors through
surveyed and interviews along with some librarians. They were able to extract useful
background from the vast amount of resources collected from previous studies (Large and
Beheshti 1984). The result shows that majority of the visitors comes alone in the library and
some visit in small groups. The libraries catalog were used mainly for target searches. Most
visitors are familiar with the interface and also use it within the library. However, most in-situ
explorations focus on browsing the shelves, and many visitors still rely on in person interaction
with librarians to find media of interest (Cochrane and Markey 2000). They build the advanced
interface including “quick search” and “advance search” sections. To evaluate the usability of the
interface they installed the collect Driver at a public library which shears the same back end of
the OPAC interface. The system were consist of two direct touch display of 1920* 1080
resolution and controlled by a single computer configured with the i7 processor, * GB RAM,
GTX 780 and windows 7. They compare the usability of two interfaces and collected data is
followed:
Online catalog CollectDrive
Information Structure Layered Flat
Search & Results Integrated in one view Visually and physically
separated
Display Hardware Small display Large vertical + horizontal

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display
Interaction Design Mouse & keyboard Combination of tangible +
direct-touch
Presentation of Search
Criteria
Textual approach Combination of tangible,
textual, and visual elements
Most recent researches confirm that, peoples find hard to browse the OPAC interfaces
comparing to the canonical web search engines. It is often found that, interfaces are unable to
provide information about any certain content which is already presented in the library resources.
Current trends in OPAC interface design go toward search paradigms as exemplified by
canonical web-search engines. This approach can lessen the gap between the visitor’s
expectations and reality. Peoples are more familiar with canonical web search than critical web-
research. Additionally, the general OPAC interfaces does not provide efficient functionality such
as category specifications, search criteria and other filtering options which could provide optimal
usability for better experience.
Mobile application development:
As the technology is developing and the popularity of mobile devices are increasing to a whole
another level, most of the interfaces are also designed for the mobile devices in order to provide
wide areas of access and ease interference. With sophisticated mobile devices the information
access has shifted increasingly away from the desktop and into the mobile environments.

6LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
Romona provides a clear framework to investigate trade-off by constructing a prototype of
mobile search application for university of Texas library catalog. Some literatures identified the
slow development of such applications as most of the libraries are unable to develop a
sophisticated mobile interface. They also identified several advantages which can be gained by
developing a proper application such as large color display, high resolution, built in touch
display and high speed connectivity (Luftman et al. 2004). Combinations of these features,
dramatically alter the experience and possibilities of information access comparison to the other
platforms. Several application construction tools are also available to construct such application
effortlessly. Even though, these approaches can provide enhance services and other optimal
possibilities, universities and other communities are not showing that mush of interested to
develop customize catalog access applications. To evaluate the advantage of the mobile
application over typical catalog, they develop a mobile application to analyze some certain
questions. The whole analysis was conducted to understand compare the effectiveness of the
mobile application over the typical OPAC interface. The preliminary evaluation of the mobile
application are also outlined with the functionality of the application (Butcher and Williams
2006). The result shows that, libraries can build such applications with just a little effort. The
mobile applications are also easy to construct as they are supposed to provide limited
functionality. However, the functionalities are totally depends on the construction process.
Feature Included in Description
Scan 1 of 10 Only WorldCat provides a
scan feature; it is a paid app
only for iPhone users.
Call number
and location
All
applications
Usually included on detailed
results page.

7LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
Status of
book
9 of 10 WorldCat did not provide
unless clicking on the
specific library page.
Author and
title
All
applications
Usually included on initial
results list pages
Cover image 3 of 10 Only WorldCat, DCPL,
NCSU provide the cover
image
Search type
options
8 of 10 Ball State use checkbox
layout; all others use drop
down menu
Search box
and button
All
applications
Always on front page;
Usually on same line
Our experience suggests that in comparison to existing browser-based OPACs, libraries can
build simple, well liked mobile applications at relatively low cost and effort.
Development of such applications:
With the web spreading worldwide alongside providing many utilities and support them.
To learn some thing or get familiarized with any specify topics, appropriate information is
necessary. Libraries are thoughts as the best place to search for authenticated piece of
information. As the technology is growing rapidly, the typical learning approaches are also
evolving. In this digital age, one can found vast amount of information related with any topic
while staying at a corner (Fayen 1984). High speed connection and rapid data transformation
around all over the world transferring this interaction into reality. Libraries all over the world,
extends their functionality by constructing OPAC interfaces. To evaluate the effectiveness of the

8LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
library online public access catalog, Authors conducted a primary analysis quiet similar like Uta.
In this case, they surveyed new students who took admission on these year (Borgman 1986).
Reason behind the decision is, the students should not have any pre knowledge of library search
and their first place. So author could understand the adoption process of such application. On
other hand, other team surveyed the experienced students in order to get their responses on new
application (Kalin 1991). The CAT has never implement such application. The proposed search
engine was able to search by multiple sort function for instance, if some performed Journal title
searches thinking they were looking for articles by title words. More problematic is that users
showed minimal curiosity about the inner workings of the catalog. They also describes some
major problem of the interaction process (Borgman 1986). In 1996, one researcher found that,
the search engines are designed for skilled searchers who had developed a set of conceptual idea
to utilize the system. It is hard for beginners to extract appropriate information just by searching
key words. As Patricia Wallace noted, users want to accomplish their task in the library catalog
as quickly as possible. Armatures just search by different keywords to find the optimal solution.
The survey result proves the theory. For instance many student tries quick search option to gather
information (Ensor 2012). However, when they were asked why they used this option, most of
them replied they are trying something new. It is hard to convey in print the impatience and
occasionally near-random search habits exhibited by novice users.
User and impact of the internet:
Experienced user are those who has the clear idea of the internal search algorithm. They were
more efficient and effective searchers then novice users. They also spent less time to search for
any specific result. Even though, the optimal way for search any topic is searching by the
keywords. Results provided by the keywords contains vast amount of content related with the

9LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
keyword. While searching through keywords, minimal use of Boolean is necessary and there is
no need of demonstrating understanding of LC subject headings (Allen 1991). Usually,
experienced users used the same keyword as other but in a more specified way with focused
searches. They are also good to find the desired content among shown solution. Where, novice
users frequently change their keywords. Experienced users also benefited from their knowledge
of library terms and jargon. On the other hand, invoice users found it difficult to extract desired
information by searching. Generally, novice users search for different keyword and checks one
or two results before going to the new page (Alzofon and Van 1984). The also frequently ignores
to sort and filter the search results to extract desired information associated with the topic. They
shows hasty decision making while evaluating results of their searches. This is one of the main
obstacle behind the unsatisfied experience. Study of Internet search engine users revealed similar
tendencies and documented a downward trend in the percentage of searchers willing to view
more than one page.
Nowadays, for higher studies students must research to gain valuable information related
to their study area. Internet has been the most reliable source to gather such information (Dinet,
Favart andPasserault 2006). A study revealed that most of the student get used to the internet by
the time they are eight and familiar with most of the internet functionality before joining
collages. This generation found easy to use the internet functionality and familiarized with the
technology from childhood (Borgman 1986). As they grow in their life and study to
acknowledge themselves about various key areas. Internet can provide many useful resources
from different areas as it stores vast amount of information. An OCLC survey reported that three
out of four students agree that they are successful in finding school-related information on the
Web. Given this background, it is not surprising that many users in this study expected the

10LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
library catalog to function as an Internet search engine (Antelman, Lynema and Pace 2006).
Even though, these approaches can provide enhance services and other optimal possibilities,
universities and other communities are not showing that mush of interested to develop customize
catalog access applications. To evaluate the advantage of the mobile application over typical
catalog, they develop a mobile application to analyze some certain questions. The whole analysis
was conducted to understand compare the effectiveness of the mobile application over the typical
OPAC interface.
Conclusion:
The library online public access catalog are one of the most important essence of the
library system and needs to be focused in order to enhance the searching experience. Even
though typical OPAC interfaces provides the most basic functions to search for a specific content
such as video, book and information, the interface were not user friendly and need systematic
approach in order to generate the best result. Many researchers found the necessity of this
applications as the visitor rates are still moderate. This paper provides key information about the
interaction of the visitors and library interfaces. Even though, technologies can alter the typical
search process and alter to provide enhance experience and possibilities (Seymour 1991).
Generally, users browse those interfaces to find information about their desired content.
However, most of the interfaces lacks to provide optimal functionality and result. The practices
of physical and digital contents are still in actions for developing a better interface. Several
published literatures were reviewed in order to understand and evaluate the interaction between
the scholars and interfaces. The introduction part of this report provides the general information
associated with the library online public access catalog. Several published literatures were

11LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
reviewed to extract useful insights to support the theories. Literatures which are more focused on
the interaction between the human and applications. Some of the literatures provides clear
description and development process of different interfaces which can assist visitors to get their
desired information with rich experience. The advanced interface for example typically
incorporate large displays to upsurge awareness of the search processes among group members
and to facilitate shared interactions. They also developed an advanced interface with multiple
functionality to ease the search process.

12LIBRARY ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG
Reference:
Allen, B., 1991. Topic knowledge and online catalog search formulation. The Library
Quarterly, 61(2), pp.188-213.
Alzofon, S.R. and Van Pulis, N., 1984. Patterns of searching and success rates in an online
public access catalog. College & Research Libraries, 45(2), pp.110-115.
Antelman, K., Lynema, E. and Pace, A.K., 2006. Toward a 21st century library
catalog. Information technology and libraries, 25(3), pp.128-139.
Borgman, C.L., 1986. The user's mental model of an information retrieval system: an experiment
on a prototype online catalog. International Journal of man-machine studies, 24(1), pp.47-64.
Borgman, C.L., 1986. Why are online catalogs hard to use? Lessons learned from information‐
retrieval studies. Journal of the American society for information science, 37(6), pp.387-400.
Borgman, C.L., Hirsh, S.G., Walter, V.A. and Gallagher, A.L., 1995. Children's searching
behavior on browsing and keyword online catalogs: the Science Library Catalog project. Journal
of the American Society for information Science, 46(9), pp.663-684.
Butcher, J.N. and Williams, C.L., 2000. Essentials of MMPI-2 and MMPI-A interpretation.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Cochrane, P.A. and Markey, K., 1983. Catalog use studies--since the introduction of online
interactive catalogs: Impact on design for subject access. Library and Information Science
Research, 5(4), pp.337-63.

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Dinet, J., Favart, M. and Passerault, J.M., 2004. Searching for information in an online public
access catalogue (OPAC): the impacts of information search expertise on the use of Boolean
operators. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20(5), pp.338-346.
Ensor, P., 1992. User practices in keyword and Boolean searching on an online public access
catalog. Information technology and libraries, 11(3), p.210.
Fayen, E.G., 1984. The online public access catalog in 1984: evaluating needs and
choices. Library technology reports, 20(1), pp.5-59.
Kalin, S.W., 1991. The Searching Behavior of Remote Users: A Study of One Online Public
Access Catalog (OPAC). In Proceedings of the ASIS Annual Meeting (Vol. 28, pp. 178-85).
Large, A. and Beheshti, J., 1997. OPACs: a research review. Library & information science
research, 19(2), pp.111-133.
Luftman, J.N., Bullen, C.V., Liao, D., Nash, E. and Neumann, C., 2004. Managing the
information technology resource: Leadership in the information age. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Education.
Mitev, N.N., Venner, G.M. and Walker, S., 1985. Designing an online public access catalogue:
Okapi, a catalogue on a local area network. The British Library.
Novotny, E., 2004. I don’t think I click: A protocol analysis study of use of a library online
catalog in the Internet age. College & research libraries, 65(6), pp.525-537.
Peters, T.A., 1989. When smart people fail: an analysis of the transaction log of an online public
access catalog. Journal of academic librarianship, 15(5), pp.267-73.

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Porter, M. and Galpin, V., 1988. Relevance feedback in a public access catalogue for a research
library: Muscat at the Scott Polar Research Institute. Program, 22(1), pp.1-20.
Seymour, S., 1991. Online Public Access Catalog User Studies: A Review of Research
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