Although West German librarians are increasingly interested in OPACs, at present there are only a few OPACs available in West Germany. Some of the difficulties impeding the introduction of OPACs are the result of the preference for closed stacks in old research libraries and the problems of retrospective cataloguing. The West German situation is compared with that in the UK, where quite numerous first (and second) generation OPACs are (or will soon become) available. The article describes the strengths and weaknesses of UK OPACs observed during a research visit in autumn 1986.
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