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What is an OPAC?
Traditionally, in library management an OPAC or Open Public Access Catalogue represented the means by which principally readers (users of the library) could search for items which were recorded in the library catalogue.
Today, while we still often use the term OPAC, the search facilities, what the catalogue may contain, and the functions that can be performed with items that have been found, far exceed the functions once provided by those older systems.
In the past, the results of an OPAC search would typically provide you with confirmation of basic details and the classification of the item - such as the traditional Dewey system - which would allow you to find the item on the shelves of the library.
In a modern OPAC the results may additionally include far more information, an abstract of the item, and a range of other multi-media attachments. In fact the item itself may be virtual, not physical, and exist only as a record in the database.
Next: OPAC - Searching the OPAC
