Browsing the Virtual Library

8 This article is very much a manifesto for a new type 9 of on-line public access catalog (OPAC). On-line public 10 access catalogs have been around for many years and 11 have served libraries well; however, this article argues 12 that with the arrival of the ‘‘virtual library’’—remote, 13 dispersed information resources accessible primarily via 14 some form of telecommunications network—existing 15 forms of OPACs, when accessed via a network, are in16 adequate for this new environment. The main reason for 17 this is that in most libraries browsing, involving physical 18 access to materials, plays an important role in satisfying 19 information needs. Across a network, physical brows20 ing is impossible, and existing OPACs have, at best, 21 weak support for browsing. A new generation of brows22 able OPACs for virtual libraries is proposed, based on an 23 analysis of the nature of browsing and the deficiencies of 24 existing OPACs.