This form allows the user to select which library Web OPAC to connect to, and also how many brief records the OPAC should display per search results page. It illustrates a simple way to override the default number of brief records that are displayed per page of search results.

When the user hits "CONNECT TO OPAC", the form redirects their browser to the specified OPAC via the "local_base" parameter in the redirect URL, specifies the number of search results to display per page via the "SHORT_NO_LINES" parameter in the redirect URL, and establishes a new session with these parameter using the "func=Option-update" parameter setting in the redirect URL.

For example, if the user asks to search the Ancilla College OPAC, and requests 50 brief records per search results page, their web browser will be redirected to the URL:

    http://hickory.palni.edu:4505/F/?func=option-update
                          &SHORT_NO_LINES=50
                          &file_name=find-b
                          &local_base=plnacp

You can now search the PALNI union catalog through INCOLSA's new INSPIRE web portal as well. The portal allows you to search the PALNI OPAC alone, or by checking the "Library Catalogs" box, to search the PALNI OPAC in parallel with WorldCat and the Indiana Shared Library Catalog (ISLC) of small public libraries. You can also search the PALNI OPAC in parallel with Google Scholar, the Project Gutenberg electronic books collection, or any of the commercial databases on INSPIRE (e.g., Ebsco).

Using the INSPIRE portal's parallel searching capability, note that response time for the PALNI OPAC is about the same as WorldCat, and is consistently faster than the ISLC's OPAC. That is interesting in light of our OPAC response time problems.