Library and Information Science

Most of the criteria proposed so far for evaluating OPACs are categorized as those for evaluating their retrieval function. However, the storage function of OPACs is more important than the retrieval function, because the quality of information retrieval systems is dependent on the quality of stored information as well as the description and depth of indexing of stored information. Therefore, OPACs should be evaluated from both functions of storage and retrieval.

Based on this viewpoint, this study examines four studies on criteria of evaluating OPACs. And a new framework for evaluating OPACs is suggested. The framework consists of three stages taken from C. R. Hildreth, each stage intended consisting of the criteria of evaluating both functions of storage and retrieval. The first stage is just that of library catalogs, the second is that of information retrieval systems, and the third is that of total information systems.