Subject Searching on OPACs: a General Survey of Facilities available on OPACS in Academic Libraries in the UK

Abstract

The introduction of online public access catalogues (OPACs) has been one of the most rapid developments in library and information work in this decade. Since the early 1980s the academic sector has led the way in the United Kingdom in establishing OPACs as part of the library scene. Users have benefitted from being allowed interactive access to the catalogue, for both known‐item and subject searching. A survey carried out in 1985 (Wood, 1986) showed that at that time approximately one‐third of British university and polytechnic libraries possessed OPACs. Less than three years later this proportion has risen to one‐half, with the trend still progressing upwards.

Citation

Slack, F. (1988), "Subject Searching on OPACs: a General Survey of Facilities available on OPACS in Academic Libraries in the UK", VINE, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 8-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040393