Revitalizing the Library OPAC: Interface, Searching, and Display Challenges

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Revitalizing the Library OPAC: Interface, Searching, and Display Challenges
Jia Mi, Cathy Weng. Information Technology and Libraries. Chicago: Mar 2008. Vol. 27, Iss. 1; pg. 5, 18 pgs



Abstract (Summary)



The behavior of academic library users has drastically changed in recent years. Internet search engines have become the preferred tool over the library online public access catalog (OPAC) for finding information. Libraries are losing ground to online search engines. In this paper, two aspects of OPAC use are studied: (1) the current OPAC interface and searching capabilities, and (2) the OPAC bibliographic display. The purpose of the study is to find answers to the following questions: Why is the current OPAC ineffective? What can libraries and librarians do to deliver an OPAC that is as good as search engines to better serve our users? Revitalizing the library OPAC is one of the pressing issues that has to be accomplished. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]



Copyright American Library Association Mar 2008
[Headnote]



The information-seeking behavior of today's academic library users has drastically changed in recent years. According to a survey conducted and published by OCLC in 2005, approximately 89 percent of college students across all the regions that were included in the study (including areas outside the United States) begin their electronic information searches with Internet search engines.1 More than half of U.S. residents used Google for their searches. Internet search engines dominate the information-seeking landscape. Academic libraries are the ones affected most, because many college students are satisfied with the answers they find on the Internet for their assignments, and they end up not taking advantage of the many quality resources in their libraries.
For many years, before the Internet search engine emerged, library catalogs were the sole information-seeking gateway. Just as the one-time industry giant Kodak has lost ground to digital photography, academic library OPACs are losing ground to online search engines. All along we academic librarians have devotedly and assiduously produced good cataloging records for the public to use. We have diligently and faithfully educated and helped our faculty and students find the proper library resources to fulfill their research needs and assignment requirements. We feel good about what we have achieved. Why have our users switched to online search engines?

* The evolution of user behavior

It is technology and rising user expectations that have contributed to the changes in user behavior. As Coyle and Hillmann pointed out: "Today's library users have a different set of information skills from those of just a few decades ago. They live in a highly interactive, networked world and routinely turn to Web search engines for their information needs."2 A recent study conducted by the University of Georgia on undergraduate research behavior in using the university's electronic library concluded that Internet sites and online instruction modules are the primary sources for their research. 3 The students' year of study did not make much of a difference in their choices. Tenopir also concluded from her study of approximately 200 scholarly works published between 1995 and 2003 that no matter what type of resources were used, "convenience remains the single most important factor for information use."4

Recently, OCLC identified three major trends in the needs of today's information consumers-self-service (moving to self-sufficiency), satisfaction, and seamlessness. 5 Services provided by Google, Amazon, and similar companies are the major cause of these emerging trends. Customers have wholeheartedly embraced these products because of their ease of use and quick delivery of "good enough" results. Researchers do not need to take information literacy classes to learn how to use an online search engine. They do not need to worry about forgetting important but infrequently used search rules or commands. In addition, the search results delivered by online search engines are sorted using relevance ranking systems that are more user-friendly than the ones currently employed by academic library OPACs. These are just some of the features that current academic library OPACs fail to deliver. In 2004, Campbell and Fast presented their analysis of an exploratory study of university students' perceptions of searching OPACs and Web search engines. 6 They found that "[s]tudents express a distinct preference for search engines over library catalogues, finding the catalogue baffling and difficult to use effectively." As a result, library OPACs, because they do not fulfill user needs, have been bombarded with criticism. 7
We often hear librarians complain about how library users forget what they have learned in user education classes. Librarians sometimes even laugh at users' ignorance and ineffectiveness in searching library OPACs. This legacy mentality has actually prevented librarians from recognizing the changes in user behavior and expectations that have occurred in the past decade. Rarely have librarians considered ineffective OPAC design to be at the root of unsuccessful OPAC use. Roy Tennant has mentioned frequently in his presentations that "only librarians like to search; users prefer to find"; that "users aren't lazy, they are human."8 It is only natural that library users turn to Internet search engines first for their information needs…………


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Things I learned from my Reading Assignment (RA)



Today providing online search tips and offering information literacy classes only help a little. The basis of current OPAC search systems is Boolean logic. For many years now, teaching students how to properly use Boolean operators has been one of the essential topics in information literacy classes. After taking these classes, do students use Boolean operators when searching?


Most of the students nowadays are becoming less interested on coming over and doing their research in the library, instead of consulting the library OPAC for possible search resources students rely more on online search engines e.g. laptops; i-phones, and psp giving instant result. Creativity is vital in marketing & capturing user attention to visit the library. Students are drawn to “easy result” & “convenience” which online search engines offer. With these challenges facing by Librarians, changes should be made to tap what online search engines offer. A convenient & interactive user-friendly library OPAC that could adapt to user expectations is essential, still without compromising delivery result of information. In addition stressing the use of library OPAC in information literacy classes would also help.


Librarians should consider revitalizing library OPAC as top priority and meeting librarians’ expectations of user behavior should adjust to today’s needs. Educating users to become fluent in using OPAC search commands and rules has become less relevant as users now seldom read and follow instructions. But it should not stop there, still it is the responsibility of the Librarians to gradually change the user in their ignorance and ineffectiveness in searching possible search resources using the library OPAC & its patronage for a just “good enough” delivery result of information. Shifting of Libraries to Web 2.0 incorporating it with Library system would drawn more library user, to be current and stable on the trends introducing interactive methods for user satisfaction would still keep library at the forefront.