Sucking the Suck out of OPACs
To make a long, long rant much shorter, I’ll just say this: I think OPACs have a long way to go before they stop sucking. To be more precise, I think we need to throw out the whole concept of the “Online Public Access Catalog.” But that’s not going to happen today or tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll happily settle for OPACs that don’t suck so much. Casey Bisson’s WPopac is one such OPAC idea, and I’ve raved about it before.
John Blyberg has just announced another one: AADL’s “SOPAC.” Check this puppy out: users can rate, review, comment on and tag items. And John has released the source code, in case anyone else wants to do the same to their OPAC.
‘Scuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.
I’m just all kinds of impressed. Ann Arbor’s SOPAC, like Casey’s WPopac, is seriously cool. These are major steps towards making the OPAC fun, and y’know, I’m all about the fun. Vive l’amusement!
