Next generation catalogues: A comparative analysis of OPACs of university libraries in India

Abstract

The Next Generation Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), generally termed as OPAC 2.0, is the results of continuous rethinking and reworking to make the information retrieval more effective, efficient and elegant with improved searching experiences. This paper attempts to list the OPAC functionalities by studying the OPAC 2.0 features available in representatives of all three types of software – commercial, open source and free. This paper attempts to compare the features available in the OPAC of ten universities against the listed expectations. Effort is also made to understand the level of OPAC 2.0 in the software adopted by these universities for integration of e-Resources, and interoperability standards. Keywords: OPAC, Information Retrieval, OPAC 2.0., Library Automation, Online Catalogue.