SUBJECT ACCESS IN OPAC INTERFACES IN TAMILNADU: A SURVEY

Abstract

The design and development of OPACs are the recent development of libraries in India in general and Tamilnadu in particular. The major objective of the paper is to gain an overview of the subject access features of the OPAC interfaces being used in Tamilnadu. A sample of 50 libraries in Tamilnadu was selected. The analysis of the data represents the state-of-the-art of the libraries in the winter of 2002. The data includes, the types and nature of the libraries, Information Technology application, interface used, range of access points provided, subject access facility and types of searches in OPACs. The major findings of the survey are: an emerging trend in the development of OPACs; use of a variety of commercial software, in-house developed software also used in a few libraries; coverage of OPACs limited to book collection only; and absence of standardized vocabulary control tools for subject access.