Online catalog in municipal public libraries in the state of Paraná/Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: In the context of libraries, whether they are public or otherwise, the catalog has always played an important role in the tasks of locating, describing and inventorying informational content. Currently, with the wide possibilities of using Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs), libraries can use this tool, not only to retrieve, describe or inventory the collections anymore, but also as an important channel of dissemination and communication with real and potential users of libraries. However, the Brazilian public libraries’ context  imposes barriers to the adoption of the OPACs, as the costs of purchasing and maintaining software facing at this purpose are not considered a priority for many of these institutions.
Objective: This research aims to investigate the municipal public libraries’ situation of the largest cities in the state of Paraná, regarding the adoption or not of the OPACs, also observing, when appropriate, what software and functionalities existing in the OPACs.
Methodology: Taking into account the aims proposed for this work, it is an exploratory type research with both quantitative and qualitative approach.
Results: It was noticed that half of the 20 surveyed cities, that is, 10 cities maintain OPACs, while in other 10 cities the existence of this tool was not noticed.
Conclusions: It stands out in a positive way, the group effort led by the Paraná Public Library, a state agency, in what it refers to making possible for some cities in Paraná to use the Pergamun software to provide online public access to their library catalogs. The same way as Londrina, Araucária, Arapongas and Cambé, whose municipal public libraries use different software to manage their OPACs. However, the absence of OPACs in public libraries in 10 of the largest cities in Paraná, Curitiba amongst them, indicates that there a lot to progress in order to make the use of this important tool possible.