Faceted Knowledge Organization Approach in Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) for Searching and Navigation: A Case Study

Abstract

In addition to the traditional library information retrieval (IR) practices, the modern library has implemented federated search, web discovery, next-generation cataloguing, and other new tools for effective organization and discovery. Facet navigation (facet search, facet navigation, or guided navigation) is applied to many e-commerce sites and dominates the interface paradigm features. The faceted approach to knowledge organization in search and navigation functions of online catalogues helps users find their necessary information effectively and most conveniently. The application of faceted searching and navigation in library OPAC is discussed in this paper. This study aims to present an overview of OPAC's faceted techniques, which play a crucial role in information retrieval. This paper investigates the system or software used to develop the online catalogue and its status in terms of the faceted knowledge organization approach by the top engineering college libraries in Odisha ranked by NIRF. Identifying nine OPACs for this study found that ninety percent of the OPACs are faceted, and fifty percent of the library prefers Koha ILS. This paper also studied OPAC facet sequence and facet type and discussed how the facet theory is still applied to the OPAC.