OPAC 2.0: towards the next generation of online library catalogues

While the 4th Law of S.R. Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science (1931) says that: “Save the time of the reader”, it is a big question to ask whether the current Library catalogues precisely do this for its library patrons. There is a common understanding that the evolution of OPAC should be in line with the evolution of technology and its services. They have to be designed in such a way that the users should be able to find what they are looking for in a timely manner only then they will be more satisfied, and more likely to feel like their needs have been met. While it is mandatory that the OPACs should not be a complex matrix for the users, it is important that it should encompass the current trends and features of advancements. There is no doubt that Librarians are the Architects to design best next generation OPACs by amalgamating Web 2.0 tools and the social networking aspects to the traditional catalogues which offer interacting options to the patrons. This paper looks at the current trend in formulating the next generation of Online Library catalogues with glimpses of isolated experiments and improvements in the library catalogues coupled with various open source software packages for OPAC 2.0 and the benefits to the users therewith.