Melissa A. Hofmann

Next generation or current generation?: A study of the OPACs of 260 academic libraries in the USA and Canada

Purpose – The study described in this paper aims to identify the progress made in the efforts to model current online public access catalogs (OPACs) after the next generation catalog (NGC) in academic libraries in the USA and Canada.Design/methodology/approach – A random sample of 260 colleges and universities was selected from Petersons Guide to Four‐Year Colleges 2009, an estimated 10 percent of the total population of 2,560 listed academic institutions. A checklist of 12 features of the NGC was used to evaluate the OPACs of the 260 libraries in the sample. The authors took as the OPAC that which the library linked to as its “catalog,” even though some might be more properly considered “discovery tools” or “discovery layers.” Some libraries used more than one OPAC interface simultaneously; in this case, each OPAC was analyzed separately. In the case of several institutions using the same consortial OPAC, only the first instance of the OPAC was analyzed. About 15 percent of the institutions (n=40) in th...

“Discovering” what's changed: a revisit of the OPACs of 260 academic libraries

Purpose – This paper aims to determine the current usage of next generation online public access catalogs (OPACs) and discovery tools in academic libraries in the USA and Canada.Design/methodology/approach – Using the same random sample of 260 colleges and universities in the USA and Canada from their original study, the authors revisited each institutions library web page to ascertain whether the OPAC interface(s) offered were the same or different than in their initial data collection. Data was collected and analyzed in October and November 2011.Findings – Discovery tool use has practically doubled in the last two years, from 16 percent to 29 percent. A total of 96 percent of academic libraries using discovery tools still provide access to their legacy catalog. The percentage of institutions using ILS OPACs with faceted navigation has increased from 2 percent to 4 percent. Combining the use of discovery tools and faceted OPACs, at least 33 percent of academic libraries are now using a faceted interface...

A Fully Faceted Syntax for Library of Congress Subject Headings

ABSTRACT Moving to a fully faceted syntax would resolve three problems facing Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): (1) Inconsistent syntax rules; (2) Inability to create headings that are coextensive with the topic of a work; and (3) Lack of effective displays for long lists of subdivisions under a single subject heading in OPACs and similar electronic displays. The authors advocate a fully faceted syntax using the facets of a modern faceted library classification (The Bliss Bibliographic Classification, 2nd ed.). They demonstrate how this might be accomplished so as to integrate the new syntax with existing headings.

Still Desperately Seeking Citations: Undergraduate Research in the Age of Web-Scale Discovery

ABSTRACT Web-scale discovery services promise fast, easy searching from a single Google-like box, pleasing users and making library resources more discoverable. Some librarians embrace the concept of giving users what they have come to expect from Google, while others are concerned that this will “dumb down” searching and undermine information literacy. In this article we explore the potential impact of Web-scale discovery tools on information literacy, focusing particularly on undergraduate research skills. We review the existing literature and present findings and experiences from two mid-sized academic libraries that have adopted EBSCO Discovery Service as their library home page portal.