FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES(MC110)

INTRODUCTION OF INFORMATION SKILLS (IMC111)

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT :
ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG (OPAC)

PREPARED FOR :
DR MOHD SUFFIEAN HASSAN

PREPARED BY :
AFHAM RAFIQ BIN MUHD FARIS

SUBMISSION DATE :
5/11/2023

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ِ‫ٱلر ِح ِيم‬
ّ ِ‫ن‬ِِ ‫ٱلرحْ ٰم‬ ِِّ ٰ ِ‫ِبس ِِْم‬
ّ ِ‫ٱَلل‬
In the name of Allah,The Most Gracious,The Most Merciful
I would like to praise Allah for every single chances he gives to me.I acknowledge that every
wisdom comes from His blessing.Alhamdulillah,due to His permissions and grace,I am able
to finish this assignment.I’m very thankful to Allah for every guidance and lending me
strength to face every circumstances along the way I am working for it.

Next,my precious appreciation to my beloved lecturer,Dr Mohd Sufiean Hassan who gives
me full support during my progress to finish my assignments.This description would not
exists without his full encouragement and advices.Furthermore,I will always remember every
knowledge he gave to me for the sake of my self improvement to have a brighter future.

On the other hand,I want to give my huge thanks to my parents who always support me on
everything I am committed into.They are my strongest backbones which gives me inspiration
to work harder.Hence,I will try my best to never let them down.

Lastly, I would like to express my thankfullness to University Technology mara (UiTM)

campus Alor Gajah for giving me opportunity to conduct this assignment.

2
 TABLE OF CONTENT

NO TITLE PAGES
`1. Introduction of OPAC 4

The Features of UiTM WebOPAC 5-7

2. 2.1 Basic Search
2.2 Advance Search
2.3 Additional Search
2.4 Accession Search
2.5 ISBN Serch

How to search books using UiTM OPAC 8-10

3. - STEP 1
- STEP 2
- STEP 3
- STEP 4
- STEP 5
- STEP 6
How to search journals using UiTM OPAC 11
4. - STEP 1
- STEP 2

The Features of UPSI WebOPAC 12-13

5. 5.1 Basic Search
5.2 Advance Search

How to search books using UPSI OPAC 14-16

6. -STEP 1
-STEP 2
-STEP 3
-STEP 4
-STEP 5
How to search articles using UPSI OPAC 17-18
7. -STEP 1
-STEP 2
-STEP 3
8. Conclusions 19

9. References 20

3
 INTRODUCTION

In a progressive world we are currently living,people rely on the internet for almost every
single thing we do.Hence,an improvement to access academic resources have to be done.One
of the venture that academic libraries made are by developing WebOPAC.Web OPAC is an
abbreviation for the Online Public Access Catalog that assists users to access the library with
ease. The Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) is a library collection catalog that is open for
public access through the internet.An OPAC is an online bibliography of a library collection
that is available to the public.An OPAC commonly provides a search bar for users to find
books or materials they want using suitable keywords.The results shown will provide detailed
information about the materials such as author, position of books in library shelves loan status
and others.Now,from our fingertips we can access to the catalogue of books remotely with the
presence of WebOPAC.

4
2.0 THE FEATURES OF UITM WEBOPAC
UPSI OPAC provides various of features for users. These features have different material
search methods such as ‘Basic Search’,’Advanced Search’,’Additional Search’,’Accession
Search’ and ‘ISBN Search”

2.1 BASIC SEACRH

The UiTM WebOPAC Basic Search is a user-friendly online search designed to simplify the
process of finding and accessing library resources.Users have to key in the keywords in the
search bar.Then,users have to choose the database, key in the publishing year and select the
filter based on what kind of resources that users want to find.Then,click the ‘GO’ button.

2.2 ADVANCED SEARCH

The advanced search is like a super search tool that helps you find library stuff really
well.Thus,they provide three boxes to fill in the keywords.Then,choose the filters which are
‘Sublocation’, ‘Doc Type’, ‘Publishing Year’ , ‘Select Database’ and ‘Select Language’

5
2.3 ADDITIONAL SEARCH
The Additional Search is an extra feature that helps users dig even deeper into the library
resources.Users need to key in the author of the material,the title of the material and the
subject of the material.Users can also key in the any field box if they don’t have that much
details.Then,filter the materials based on the ‘Document Type’ and site which is ‘Publishing
Year’, ‘Select Database’ and ‘Select Language’.Lastly,click the ‘GO’ button.

2.4 ACCESSION SEARCH

The Accession Search is a tool to help you find specific library items using their special ID
numbers.It only needs two simple steps which are entering the number in the box and press
‘Search”

6
2.5 ISBN SEARCH
The ISBN Search is an easy feature that allows users to find books using their International
Standard Book Number(ISBN).Users can search the book by key in the ISBN Number in the
search box.Then,press ‘Search’

7
3.0 HOW TO SEACRH USING UiTM OPAC

STEP 1
Open the Google and search ‘UiTM WebOPAC’.Then,click on the ‘UiTM OPAC’ from the
search results.

STEP 2
Enter your USER ID(Matrics No.) and PASSWORD(IC Number).Select your current UiTM
branch or leave it blank so the WebOPAC will detect it itself.After that,press the ‘Submit’
button.

8
STEP 3
Enter the keywords of your materials in the search bar provided.As an example,I search for
‘communication’ as the keyword.User also can filter their search by filling the database and
the publishing year.Then,Press the button ‘GO’.

STEP 4
Once you press the button,this page will appear.It shows different kinds of materials that we
want to find.For books,click the ‘Books’ section.

9
STEP 5
From the ‘Books’ section,a lot of books about communication will appear.As an example,I
choose the book as highlighted below.(21st century communication,a reference handbook)

STEP 6
Once I click the book,it shows a detailed information about the book inside the library.Here
how it display the information.

10
4.0 HOW TO SEARCH JOURNALS USING UITM OPAC

STEP 1
If you want to find another resources from the materials that you wanted,scroll back up to the
materials sections.Click on the ‘Journals’ section.Then,various of journals about
communication starts to appear.

STEP 2
I choose a journal titled ‘Communication Theory’ as an example.Here,it shows a lot of
information about the Journal,where it is located,and when was it published.

11
5.0 THE FEATURES OF UPSI WebOPAC
UPSI OPAC provides various of features for users. These features have different material
search methods called 'Basic Search' and 'Advance Search'

5.1 Basic Search

Basic search is an elementary way to search for materials from the library which is UPSI
Library or they call it Perpustakaan Tuanku Bainun.Users have to key in the keywords,then
sort it based on users’ demands such as title,author,ISBN etc.Lastly,click on the magnifying
glass symbol to search for it.

12
5.2 Advanced Search
Advanced search is when you want to key in more than one keyword, so they provided an
option to add more keywords by clicking ‘Add a row’.Users also allowed to make changes or
to narrow down the scope of seaching keywords by clicking ‘Remove’.Users also allowed to
make a new search by clearing form using the ‘Clear Form’ button.

13
6.0 HOW TO SEARCH BOOKS USING UPSI OPAC

STEP 1
Search for ‘UPSI Library’ in google search bar.then,Click on the ‘MORE INFO’ bar or search
the website (https://pustaka2.upsi.edu.my/index/)

STEP 2
Once you are in the website,click on the ‘WEB OPAC’ tab (as highlighted in the picture).

14
STEP 3
After clicking the button,this page will appear.I search ‘Communication’ as an example
keyword.Then,click on the magnifying glass logo to search.

1
2

STEP 4
After clicking the logo,scroll down the page and you will see many resources about
communication will appear.Now,I can find the books that I wanted.I decided to click on
‘Communication & Organizational Culture : a key to understanding work experiences’

15
STEP 5
Once you clicked the book,it shows every details about the author,it’s ISBN,the call
number,published year and physical description.This is where you wil gain detailed
information of the book.

16
7.0 HOW TO SEARCH ARTICLES IN UPSI OPAC
STEP 1
After clicking on the magnifying glass button,scroll down the page until you find a column
named as ‘UPSI Digital Repository’.Then,click the column.

STEP 2
After you click on the column,a lot of articles will appear.I choose an article named
‘Communication in families of children with intellectual disability ®’ as an example.

17
STEP 3
The title I clicked brought me to this page.Here,it shows every detailed information about the
articles such as the author,place of publication,year of publication and the PdF files of the
article.

18
CONCLUSION
To sum up,WebOPAC is a versatile and user-friendly online library catalog system that assists
the process of finding and accessing academic materials.It offers both basic and advanced
search features which made the scope of searching resources wider.The basic search helps
users who wants to find any resources in a quick way while the advanced search gives a big
assistance to those who want to find a specific kind of materials needed by them.Eventhough
some institutions WebOPAC features may differ,they still provides the same functionality to
help users find academic resources in the library.With WebOPAC,the efficiency for users to
seek knowledge from the library will increase by reducing the time taken to search for
academic materials.With the existence of this web,the book lending system will also become
competent as they can order and request it online anywhere and anytime.

Thus,at the end of this assignment,we learnt about the features and characteristics of OPAC
from both universities.

19
REFERENCES

Eadie William F.(2009)21st century communication : a reference handbook ,Sage Pub,Los

Angeles
https://opac.uitm.edu.my/opac/search/searchResult.html?tid=601965&databaseNo=undefined
&_rqst=undefined&detailLinking=true&reset=true&db=1

Blackwell(2017),Communication theory,ELTELCON SDN.BHD

https://opac.uitm.edu.my/opac/search/searchResult.html?tid=000416&databaseNo=undefined
&_rqst=14&detailLinking=true&reset=true&db=4

Joann Keyton(2005),Communication & organizational culture : a key to understanding work

experiences,Thousand Oaks,California.
https://pustaka.upsi.edu.my/Home/Details/115953

Kamaruddin Kamarulzaman,Nordin Abu Bakar(2012),Communication in families of children

with intellectual disability (IR),University of Malaya
https://ir.upsi.edu.my/detailsg.php?det=621

20