An online public access catalogue for St. Augustine’s College, Wakiso

Abstract

The project aimed at designing and developing an ‘Online Public Access Catalog for St. Augustine’s College, Wakiso to virtually list and display the library holdings.’ The study adopted a qualitative approach and data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observation and document review methods. The study found out that the library uses an accession as their catalogue and it is under closed access. Challenges identified by respondents included limited access to the catalogue, rigid library rules, limited library access time among others. The users demanded for a system that will aid easy access to information materials by allowing information searching by using different strategies like keyword search, author, title, or publisher. The study concluded that designing an OPAC for St. Augustine’s College library was inevitable as many of the challenges highlighted by the respondents could best be solved by introducing an OPAC as an information access and retrieval tool. The study recommended that St. Augustine’s College do everything possible to have the OPAC implemented as majority of the respondents showed their interest in the project and requested to have it completed. Equipping the library with computers with internet connection, user training and extension of library operating hours as well as library awareness among users were some of other recommendations the study cited.