ONLINE PUBLIC-ACCESS CATALOGS
Philip Doty and R. E. Wyllys

Assignment Title: Comparison of Web-Based Online Public-Access Catalogs (OPACs).

Participation: Individual.

Format: Formal three- to four-page essay in APA final manuscript format.

Submission Method: Email to the course emailbox with the assignment attached as a Microsoft Word document.

Maximum points: 5.

Introduction:

Goals: The goals of this assignment are:

• To provide you a basic familiarity with a variety of Web-based online public-access catalogs.
  

• To give you practice in evaluating some of the particular characteristics of these OPACs.
  

• To require you to integrate what you see at these sites with concepts and concerns of importance to the class.
  
  
• To encourage you to consider how these characteristics are of interest to LIS generally, to the concerns of the class, and to your professional interests and ambitions.

Tasks: For this assignment you will:

1. Look at the online public-access catalogs of the following institutions:
   • British Library
   • The Library of Congress
   • New York Public Library (CATNYP)
   • Texas Library Connection (Use the Public Catalog option. TLC is a service of the Texas Education Agency, though the site fails to explain this.)
   • The University of Texas at Austin
   • The University of Texas, El Paso
     
   
   
2. Identify what you regard as three important characteristics of these six OPACs. Among the characteristics you may want to consider are: the accessibility of the OPAC; the effectiveness of its design; its searchableness; what the records look like in each OPAC; what records are displayable and searchable; and how the bibliographic records for monographs, journals, and full-text digital tools are alike and different in each OPAC. You may choose other characteristics if you consider them important.
   
   
3. Consider how the OPACs are similar or different for each of your chosen characteristics.
   


4. Write an essay that addresses what you learned. Please be specific in explaining why these characteristics are important.
   


5. Submit your assignment to the course emailbox.