Over the next ten years, it is inconceivable that full text availability will not become a dominant factor. There would be a huge impact on the very basis of cataloguing if a large proportion (or even a majority) of material, along with associated linkages such as citations, were to become routinely available as full text. It is legitimate to ask even whether there will be a need for catalogues in the conventional sense in the longer-term future.
From Resource Discovery Workshop report, UK Research Information Network.
Oh so sad it will be, when the OPAC is becomes nopac.
Ok I'm not actually that harsh. I think the OPAC recedes into the background as a good book inventory database. It certainly isn't a front-end user interface.
The report has some other interesting thoughts, their analysis is at quite a high level. A lot of discussion about the need for foresight - I'm wondering whether we couldn't all collaborate on this rather than running a bunch of separate foresight exercises?
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