The Online Catalog: From Technical Services to Access Service
Barbara A. Norgard, Michael Berger, Christian Plaunt · Advances in librarianship · 1993
Introduction During the last decade, the widespread adoption of the online catalog has launched the library visibly into the computer age and has made the library a center stage for information access in academic institutions and in the communities served by the public library. A whole generation of library users has traveled the path to computer and library literacy through the use of the online catalog. Implementation of online library catalogs has given new impetus to programs for user education, formal bibliographic instruction, and information desks, building, in the process, an infrastructure for electronic access to the resources of the library and the community. Within the profession, the online catalog has led to a host of conference programs, workshops, and professional discussion groups. Not the least of these changes is the gradual redefinition of the `catalog.' Ten years ago, most librarians and library users would agree to a definition of the catalog as displayin