Knowledge, Satisfaction and Challenges on Online Public Access Catalog in an Academic Library in Northern Philippines

Information resource is meaningless without access. Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) has this role to connect with the users and provides access to all available information resources within the library. The goal of academic libraries then is to enhance information access which serves as a gateway to all learning resources. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, satisfaction and challenges on OPAC among students of Saint Mary's University, Philippines using quantitative method of research. Data were gathered from the 672 undergraduate students, who are actually using the OPAC, from the School of Accountancy and Business (SAB), School of Teacher Education and Humanities (STEH), School of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (SEAIT), and School of Health and Natural Sciences (SHaNS) through survey questionnaire. Results revealed that students have low level of knowledge; slightly satisfied; and experienced challenges in using the OPAC. Interestingly, there is a significant difference on the level of knowledge and satisfaction of the respondents when grouped according to sex, school and their frequency of use. Since the students had low satisfaction in using OPAC, the library must enhance its OPAC service to further improve its delivery of information and to meet the users need.