A Study on the Effectiveness of Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) of Kelaniya University Library, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The University of Kelaniya library established in 1956 with the amalgamation of the Vidyalankara Pirivena In 1977, library started their services with a manual system. At present Kelaniya university has a fully integrated library management system and use Libsys database with Cataloguing, Circulation, Acquisition, Serial Control and Web OPAC modules. Among all these automated modules OPAC is a very important module. But most of users are not aware of this service provided by the University library. But, it is obvious that library services not up to the required level with an efficient service through the OPAC module to the users. This paper examines the usage of Online Public Access Catalogby the students of Kelaniya University of Sri Lanka. OPAC, which is an information retrieval system, has revolutionized access to bibliographic information through the search options with a keyword such as Boolean, truncation, proximity, and item identity number searching. The main objective of this research was to search the effectiveness of Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) in the library of University of Klaniya, Sri Lanka. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted with faculty members, research scholars and postgraduate students, covering different disciplines such as Sciences, Applied Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities. The paper discussed various aspects of OPAC such as frequency of use, purpose, ease of use, satisfaction level, etc. An attempt was also made to explore the reasons for the least used search options of the OPAC. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS based on the findings. It can be revealed that a significant number of users search information and library material through the OPAC. Lack of basic skills among users was found to be the major reason for less usage of the full features of the OPAC. It is suggested that University library should organize quality instructional programs to improve knowledge and skills of the users.