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OPAC Commercialized: Conflicts, Function Development and Technology Characteristics

Liu Dan   

  • Online:2016-08-15 Published:2016-08-25

Abstract:

Commercial OPAC suffers from two inherent limits: limited access to source codes and longer product development cycle, which conflicts with the expectation of OPAC being personalized and dynamic.It has thus becomes popular practices of library to expand OPAC functions by means of diversifying
retrieving methods, providing supplementary tools for retrieval, and optimizing information disclosure,offering assistance to retrieval, integrating electronic resources and imbedding resource referral system.Rich Internet Applications (RIA) is, therefore, the characteristic technology adopted to realize the function
expansion. And before the new system takes shape to replace OPAC, function development will remain to be the effective way to improve readers’ retrieval experience.

Key words: OPAC, Function development, Rich Internet Applications (RIA), JavaScript