Electronic Resources and Next-Generation Public Library Catalogs

Electronic Resources and Next-Generation Public Library Catalogs

Tracy L. McPeck
ISBN13: 9781466672307|ISBN10: 1466672307|EISBN13: 9781466672314
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-7230-7.ch091
Cite Chapter Cite Chapter

MLA

McPeck, Tracy L. "Electronic Resources and Next-Generation Public Library Catalogs." Open Source Technology: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, edited by Information Resources Management Association, IGI Global, 2015, pp. 1820-1834. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7230-7.ch091

APA

McPeck, T. L. (2015). Electronic Resources and Next-Generation Public Library Catalogs. In I. Management Association (Ed.), Open Source Technology: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1820-1834). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7230-7.ch091

Chicago

McPeck, Tracy L. "Electronic Resources and Next-Generation Public Library Catalogs." In Open Source Technology: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, edited by Information Resources Management Association, 1820-1834. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2015. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7230-7.ch091

Export Reference

Mendeley
Favorite

Abstract

This case study examines the user experience of six public library catalogs (OPACs) in terms of the next-generation characteristics identified by library literature. One open source Integrated Library System (ILS), Evergreen, was compared to one proprietary system, Polaris. One library used its respective ILS alone, while the other libraries' catalogs used a third-party discovery layer in conjunction with the ILS. The purpose of this study is to compare open source versus proprietary ILSs and discovery layers in terms of their next-generation characteristics with particular attention to electronic resources, namely e-books. Of the six libraries compared, the two libraries that used the proprietary add-on BiblioCommons featured the most advanced next-generation catalog characteristics. The two ILSs that did not use any added layers offered the fewest next-generation traits. The catalogs of public libraries vary greatly in their offerings, but add-ons, such as BiblioCommons, enhance the user experience and the retrievability of electronic resources.

Request Access

You do not own this content. Please login to recommend this title to your institution's librarian or purchase it from the IGI Global bookstore.