OPAC vs card catalogue: a comparative study of user behaviour

Even though use studies of card catalogues are quite rare, use of online public access catalogues (OPACs) has been extensively investigated since early 1980s. Yet there are not many attempts to conduct comparative studies highlighting the differences in use of card catalogues and OPACs of the same library and user population. This paper reports an attempt made to study use of the OPAC of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) library and compare the results with the findings of the study of use of card catalogue of the same library conducted 17 years ago. The paper not only brings various aspects of user behaviour about OPAC but also depicts the differences in user behaviour as well as the effects of technological changes from card catalogue (manual system) to OPAC (automated system).