Choosing the Right OPAC

In an ideal situation, we as Library Media Specialists would be able to sift through the many OPACs available to libraries and regardless of cost, choose the right one for the individual school. With budget cuts and lack of funding, schools need to choose wisely and sometimes adapt to the OPAC that is available for their use. My school uses InfoCentre, and this was the OPAC in place when I came to the school four years ago.Are there better, more advanced ones for our school? Certainly. Is there a chance that we may change to another with more advanced features that will move our students forward into the 21st-Century? Realistically, I would have to say no. Our district, like many others in Massachusetts are experiencing major budget cuts in all areas. The likelihood of changing over to any new technology at the present time is slim.Until that changes, we as LMS need to utilize our present OPAC to the absolute best of our and its abilities for the benefit of our learners. It is our responsibility to our students to know the system we are using and all of its features. Then we need to ensure that our students know how to use the system to get the most information to help them access the resources they are searching for. Working together, students and LMS, to get the most out of the OPAC can compensate at least in part for the lack of an updated version or a new more advanced one.