Lubuto’s catalog—a resource for discovery

Lubuto's online catalog was developed as an inventory of books selected for the libraries and a finding tool to classify and locate copies of those books in Lubuto's libraries. The catalog was implemented as a cloud-based application with records created according to international library standards for description and format along with best practices for consistency and quality control.

For Lubuto's staff the catalog is a vital tool for managing the acquisition and development of the growing collections and a key resource for developing “read aloud” book lists, special topical bibliographies, and amplifying themes of core Lubuto programs for storytime, art, drama, mentoring and technology. Its importance as a tool for users in exploring other content, and to lead readers to the right story for them, may not have been as well appreciated.

Lubuto’s Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) https://opac.libraryworld.com/opac/signin.php?libraryname=LUB includes nearly 11,000 records for the items in all of the Lubuto libraries and is the foundation of our portal to the rich resources of books, films, atlases, and digital copies of Zambian literature. Lubuto's catalog can launch the user beyond the serendipity of shelf browsing to themes and subjects within books and highlight other characteristics and relationships among the collections.

Lubuto's catalog records identify titles and their shelf location in the collection, and also reveal and highlight information within the books. Languages, reading level, media, topics, messages from the authors, scanned copies of Zambian cultural treasures, and other online resources to link and expand the reader's access to materials of high interest. Our goal is to continue the evolution of the catalog from a record of Lubuto's collection content to a living link -- to support staff in enhancing special programs and guide users as they learn to search the catalog themselves to explore the contents and ideas otherwise hidden within the books’ cover.

From conversations with the staff, we know that the kids quickly learn the subject classifications that are reflected in the color-coded book labels. They also observe and track which books their friends are selecting. Opening new worlds of discovery through the Lubuto OPAC depends upon introducing them to the catalog’s search features and the basic information literacy skills that exploration builds.  The library catalog is a great way for young people to learn that you can’t judge a book by its cover!