To Extend Functionalities of WebPAC by Developing the Library Online Catalogue into a Library Resources Portal - The Lingnan University Library Experience

This paper examines the current trends, as well as the potentials of the future library online public catalogue (OPAC). It is written to speak to the interest of the library community as well as OPAC designers, with the aim of investigating the role the librarian should be playing, along with the catalogue developments for the community, and new trends for information services. This paper is divided into 6 parts. It commences with an overview of the developments of the OPACs at different stages, followed by detailed descriptions on the attributes, as well as the limitations of the old and existing library catalogues, and defines the new concept of the future developments as a library portal for electronic resources. Part V documents Lingnan Library's experience in extending the functionalities of the WebPAC by developing the Library Online Catalogue (WebPAC) into a Library Resources Portal. Finally, it offers proposal to respond to the dilemma of librarians as designers of the future library catalogue, i.e., to provide access to the expanding universe of information and knowledge.