OPACs suck, okay, not really....

Okay, I know in previous discussions in d2l and for my part of the group project I was all about the mantra that OPAC's suck! BUT, I believe out of the four technologies I have discussed the one that will most improve libraries for patrons is OPACs. I really don't hate OPACs as much as I would like everyone to believe :)
OPACs have the most potential to change how patrons view and use the library on a daily basis. While my library's OPAC drives me crazy some days I cannot imagine not having it! It is much more user-friendly and well, I hate it say this in fear of sounding silly, but it is so much prettier than the staff side! My boss is amazed that I choose to use our library's OPAC more than the staff circulation side. I don't know why, I just am determined to figure out what makes our OPAC tick and all the little tricks to using it so I can show my coworkers and patrons.
Despite the fact that OPACs seem to lag behind many search engines I think they are a great resource for remote users of the library. I see more and more patrons in my library utilizing the OPAC to manage their accounts and keep track of overdue items, fines and holds.
I think with all the complaints that are thrown at OPACs lately improvements will come quickly and will help increase patron use of the library. Marshall Breeding offers several suggestions for improving OPACs in his article, "Thinking about your next OPAC", including better relevancy ranking, faceted navigation, search result clustering, breadcrumbs, and a faster search environment. An emergence of next-generation user interfaces for library catalogs is already on its way and with it patrons will be able to meet their information needs from any location, not just in the library. They will not have to turn to the librarian all the time to find books and materials, that may be frightening thought for librarians though! Yet I think OPACs are already making patrons more independent in using the library and its resources. OPACS are a fast and easy way to find items and information resources in your local area. Another reason I think OPACs will most improve libraries for patrons is because they include several different technologies at once. When you search for items in my library's catalog you are shown how to access electronic resources and how to set up RSS feeds for items of interest. You can view bestseller lists, the day's headlines and click on links to those stories, you can view the weather in your area, you can search databases. I just think of my library's OPAC as a one-stop shop for patrons. You can do so many things at once just in the OPAC without ever having to visit outside websites or even the library's separate website. I've started noticing how much I can get done just within the OPAC and that makes me happy cause I get exhausted trying to visit like twenty websites a day! I think patrons look for convenience as well when it comes to using the library, I just am afraid most do not know about the OPAC or how to use it when searching. I think most users approach OPACs as they do search engines and are not aware of the subject headings and vocabulary problem. OPACs do help in berry-picking though as they usually provide subject lists related to your search. I think when it comes to helping improve libraries for patrons that also includes education on using the OPAC which I try to do a little bit of everyday :)
I also think OPACs make searching the library easier for children as most libraries offer a children's OPAC.
I find most patrons are amazed at what they can do on the OPAC and that they can do it from home as well. So overall I think the OPAC has the most potential to improve libraries for patrons because it is so accessible and once they know how to use the OPAC it is easy and hopefully with some improvements OPACs will start to think like the patron and will become more intuitive and make searching easier as well.