1. ZU OPAC
2012

2. Objectives
 At the end of this presentation students are expected
to be able to:
 Interact with ZU OPAC independently
 Access e-books through ZU e-library

3. Introduction
 How can You Find Things in a Library?
 There are three ways to find material in a library.
 Ask a librarian
 Browse the shelves
 Use the library catalog

4. Library Catalog
 What is a Library Catalog?
 Is a big cabinet contains small shelves that have a
bunch of cards catalog. Each card represent a different
book in the library and tells you where to find it.
 Today most libraries have replaced their card catalog
with an electronic online version, but they still have
the same purpose.

5. Online Catalog (OPAC)
 What is OPAC?
 Online public access catalogs is an online database of
materials held by a particular library. Searching the
OPAC enables the searcher to know materials available
in the library and where to find them.
 Opac doesn't only tell you what the library owns, but
will also tell you whether the item is available right
now or checked out.

6. ZU OPAC
 The online catalog used by ZULIB called ZU-OPAC.
Currently the OPAC contains records for the
approximately 800 electronic books and a number of
printed books.
 ZU-OPAC can be accessed through the e-library room.

8. OPAC SEARCH
 OPAC Basic Search
 There are two OPAC search options
 Known item search
 Unknown item search

9. OPAC Search cont..
 The first thing to keep in mind when searching a
catalog is to pay attention to which field you are
searching. Ask yourself these questions:
 Do you want to know if we own a specific book
 Are you looking for something by a certain author
 Are you looking for information on a certain subject
 The answer to this question will determine which
search field you choose. (Title, Author, or Subject)

10. Search box

11. Cont..
 What do the search fields mean?
 Library catalog: This will look for your search terms
anywhere in all the fields. This can bring up a lot of
irrelevant things, so it 's best to use it as a last resort if
you haven't had success with any of the other types of
searches.
 It is useful for unknown item search option

12. Cont..
 Title: This will take you to an alphabetical list of all of
the titles in the catalog, starting with the search terms
you entered. Use this to find specific titles that you're
looking for.

13. Cont..
 Author: This will take you to an alphabetical list of all
the authors in the catalog.
 Subject: This will take you to an alphabetical list of
the controlled vocabulary for the catalog, starting
with your search term.

14. Start searching
 To start a search, you enter a word or multiple words in
the search box
 Suppose you want to find material about “The world
state of child abuse”.
 You'll select the key words and enter them into the
search box, then click Go or press “Enter”

15. Type here then click Go or
press “Enter”

16. Important tip:
 Be aware that entering too many words in the search
box may returns no result.
 Picture???

17. Advanced Search
 If Opac Basic Search is not giving you the right
results, you can conduct an advanced search by
clicking on the “Advanced search”

18. Click here

19. Advanced search cont..
 From the Advanced Search mode you can:
 Combine different keywords
 Limit your search by date of publication
 Limit your results to a certain type of resource (such as
books, e-books, or CDs, for example)
 Limit your results to a certain location

21. Important tip:
 Don't give up if you can't find your search terms
anywhere in the catalog!
 There may be plenty of books that mention your
topic, but don't warrant a subject heading for it.

22. Search result
 The Search Results Page
 After you have selected a topic from the browse list (or
if you did a keyword search), you will get a list of all
the items that matched your search.

23. Look at the result

24. Refine your search
 By default your search result will be sorted based on
OPAC settings. (relevance)
 To change this, you can choose another sorting
method from the pull down menu on the right
 On the left hand side there will be a series of criteria to
help you refine and narrow your search, including:
availability, names of authors and topics.

26. Item Record Page
 If you click on the title of an item on the search
results page, it will take you to the item record
page:
Click here

27. Item detail page..
 For each item on this page, you will see
 The title of the item,
 The author,
 Publisher,
 Physical details,
 Date of publication,
 Location,
 Holdings
 Call No,
 Subject headings,
 Status and
 Due date.

29. Access e-books
 E-book is an electronic version of printed book.
 In addition to physical books, the library possess
hundreds of electronic books. These books are
cataloged, so you may access them via local area
network when you search for OPAC.
 E-Books will have a link that says full text or click
here .

30. Click here

31. save find
print
zoom
content

32. Other options
 Lists & Cart
 ZU-OPAC provides two
ways to keep track of
your searches
 Carts and Lists.

33. Cart/ book bag
 You can select and
temporarily save a list of
items you find in the library
Catalog.
 That means, once you log
out or close the browser, you
lose the items in your cart.
 Click Add to cart below the Click here
record you want to save.

34. List
 Users can keep their own
private lists or create public
list to share with all visitors
to the OPAC.
 Users must be logged in in
order to create a list.
 From the search result page
click Save to list to create
Click here
your list.

35. Place Hold
 Users must be logged in
in order to place a hold
on an item for them
selves.
 You can place a hold on
one title or multiple
items.
 Click Place Hold below Click here
the record you want to
reserve.

36. OPAC account
 You can log in and access your
personal information from
any e-library computer. Once
logged in, you can see your
account summary.
 Later on, ZU library will
provide user accounts for all
library members.

37. My summary
 From the 'my summary' tab, you can see all of the
items you have checked out with the overdue items
and fines if any.

39. My details
 You will see a form filled in with your contacting
information by clicking on the “my personal details”
tab.
 You can edit the details in this form and click 'Submit
Changes'

41. Change my password
 You can change your password from inside your
account. You will be presented with a standard form
asking you to enter your old password and then enter
the new password twice.

43. Things we learnt
 What is opac
 Opac basic search
 Opac search fields
 Opac advanced search
 Opac search result page
 Refine search result
 Item detail page
 Access to e-books
 Other options: cart, list …..

44. Thank you for you attention
Don’t hesitate to ask assistance from any library staff
We are here to serve you!

45. Any question?