TY - JOUR AU - Bennett, Michael J. PY - 2007/03/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - OPAC Design Enhancements and Their Effects on Circulation and Resource Sharing within the Library Consortium Environment JF - Information Technology and Libraries JA - ITAL VL - 26 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.6017/ital.v26i1.3287 UR - https://ital.corejournals.org/index.php/ital/article/view/3287 SP - 36-46 AB - <p>A longitudinal study of three discrete online public access&nbsp;catalog (OPAC) design enhancements examined the possible effects such changes may have on circulation and&nbsp;resource sharing within the automated library consortium environment. Statistical comparisons were made of&nbsp;both circulation and interlibrary loan (ILL) figures from&nbsp;the year before enhancement to the year after implementation. Data from sixteen libraries covering a seven-year&nbsp;period were studied in order to determine the degree&nbsp;to which patrons may or may not utilize increasingly&nbsp;broader OPAC ILL options over time. Results indicated&nbsp;that while ILL totals increased significantly after each&nbsp;OPAC enhancement, such gains did not result in significant corresponding changes in total circulation.</p> ER -