OPACs

The OPAC (online public access catalogue) that my school district uses is Destiny.  This is a very widely used cataloguing system, and I have only good things to say about it for the amount of time that I have used it.  The statement below is what I will be basing this week’s reflection on:

The degree to which a library catalogue can be consulted easily by teachers and students is of great significance if teacher-librarians wish to encourage user-independence. A flexible catalogue will allow broader use of the school library.

This statement is hard to disagree with.  I feel that by educating students and staff on how to make good use of the OPAC, the TL is in effect encouraging user-independence.  Students who can navigate the catalogue system are able to find the books that they are looking for, determine which book(s) will be the best for the purpose of the particular search, and are able to either find the books on the shelves, or ask for assistance for specific books rather than a general query.  I do think, however, that some features of an OPAC can help to encourage students and staff to use the system more frequently.

A good OPAC will be easy to access from the school and library homepages.  This way, users can search from the library, their classrooms, or from home.  Another feature that contributes to an effective OPAC is the ability to place requests and holds.  When a user finds a particular book that will be of use or interest, it is important that they are able to access the resource in a timely manner.  In the best-case scenario, users would even be able to request a book to be borrowed from another library if their home library does not have this book.  I know that TLs can do inter-library loans, but I do not believe that this feature is available to other users.  Finally, I think that creating project lists would help students and staff make effective use of the OPAC.  Many teachers will assign major projects each year, and when the TL notices a common theme each year (e.g. Ancient Greece, Northern Communities, Bears, etc.) it would be handy if there were a link with a list of suggested resources.  I am not sure if Destiny has this feature, but when I read about it in this week’s readings it is something that stuck with me as a brilliant idea.  This could save time for users who are searching, and though it is an investment of time for the TL initially, it would save time in subsequent years when the same questions come up again and again.