Using the Online Public Access Catalogue at the University of Botswana

Abstract

Reports on a study aimed at assessing the use of the online public access catalogue (OPAC) by students doing sociology courses at the University of Botswana. The objectives of the study were to establish: the types of search strategies used by students when searching OPAC; the problems encountered during searches; whether students were able to retrieve records related to their topics of research; if students were satisfied with the outcome of the searches. A questionnaire and observation were used to collect data. The findings indicated that respondents searched mostly by title, author, keyword and subject. They had difficulties with subject search, use of advanced searching options, downloading and printing search results, accessing full-text journal articles through OPAC, lack of Internet access on campus, lack of access to computers because they are always occupied by other students, and the OPAC often being down.