Subject Searching on British OPACs: Problems and Progress

The increase in subject access provision on British OPACs over the last decade is described: end‐users may carry out subject searches using such facilities as keyword access or Boolean operators; the use of browsing is particularly flexible and appeals to end‐users. A research programme at Manchester Polytechnic is discussed which has identified the conceptual problems created by subject searching, including general OPAC instructions, inputting of search terms, refining the search strategy and the subject description of each record. Progress is described on research into subject searching on a number of fronts and the enhancement of facilities discussed.