Solving the OPAC Problem
Oct 21st, 2008 by Karen
John Blyberg & Chris Barr
http://thesocialopac.net
Can you customize your opac NO
No personalization
Horrible logins!!
aadl.org sopac 1.0
Internet portal for online library experience
Not enough customizations
Drupal, tagging, reviews, ratings, comments
Issues with critical mass
Tags reviews not representative
Social data not searchable
SOPAC 2.0
Locum - discovery layer
Write an ILS connector for your ILS
Abstractions of connectors
Social data engine for libraries - Insurge
Shared social data between libraries much richer data set
Everything is done within the drupal framework
Search tags in the catalog and tags are part of keyword search
Reviews searchable
Can sort by ratings
Sort by when added
Sort by popularity
Very cool My Account stuff
Version 2.1 will be coming out soon
RSS feeds, multiple cards with an account
Popularity is based on number of holds placed via SOPAC
VuFind - Chris Barr
Library opacs are usable for librarians but not patrons
Too many different interfaces
Creates high learning curve
Advanced search is for advanced users
Top secret search syntax - last name, first name
Customization is not easy and sometimes impossible
No Web 2.0 social stuff
http://www.vufind.org
Easily replace your ILS without your patrons knowing it
Faceted results, author bios, tags, favorites, bookmarkable, book covers, faceted browsing
Availability - on results page!
Reviews from other sources
Amazon
Syndetics
Get a citation (MLA, APA) on the fly
Export Endnote, Refworks
Zotero compatible
Text or email info
Wordpress style template for easy customizations - in next version
Used by
Villanova
National library of Australia
Yale - beta
CARLI system Illinois - beta


Small typo *cough*. I’m guessing CARLO should be CARLI. Just in case any folks find this looking for VuFind examples.
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