Copac (originally an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

of Consortium of Online Public Access Catalogues) was a

union catalogue A union catalog is a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries. Union catalogs have been created in a range of media, including book format, microform, cards and more recently, networked electronic databases. Pr ...

which provided free access to the merged online catalogues of many major

research libraries A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...

and specialist libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, plus the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

and the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

. It had over 40 million records from around 90 libraries, representing a wide range of materials across all subject areas. Copac was freely available to all, and was widely used, with users mainly coming from

Higher Education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

institutions in the United Kingdom, but also worldwide. Copac was valued by users as a research tool. Copac was searchable through with a

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

Z39.50 Z39.50 is an international standard client–server, application layer communications protocol for searching and retrieving information from a database over a TCP/IP computer network, developed and maintained by the Library of Congress. It is c ...

client. It was also accessible through

OpenURL An OpenURL is similar to a web address, but instead of referring to a physical website, it refers to an article, book, patent, or other resource within a website. OpenURLs are similar to permalinks because they are permanently connected to a re ...

and

Search/Retrieve via URL Search/Retrieve via URL (SRU) is a standard search protocol for Internet search queries, utilizing Contextual Query Language (CQL), a standard query syntax for representing queries. SRU, along with the related Search/Retrieve via Web (SRW) servi ...

(SRU) interfaces. These interfaces could be used to provide links to items on Copac from external sites, such as those used on the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

website. Copac was a

Jisc Jisc is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education institutions and research as well as not-for-profits and the public sector. History T ...

service provided for the UK community on the basis of an agreement with

Research Libraries UK Research Libraries UK (RLUK) (formerly CURL) comprises 32 university libraries, 3 national libraries, and the Wellcome Collection in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its aim is to increase the ability of research libraries to share resources among ...

(RLUK). The service used records supplied by RLUK members, as well as an increasing range of specialist libraries with collections of national research interest. A full list of contributors is available including the

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

, the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

library and

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

(IMechE) Library. In July 2019, Jisc replaced COPAC with

Library Hub Discover Library Hub Discover is a union catalog operated by Jisc. It replaces Copac and SUNCAT. Its user interface is centred around a simple search engine A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the W ...

References

{{authority control Academic libraries in the United Kingdom Bibliographic databases and indexes Databases in the United Kingdom Higher education in the United Kingdom Jisc Library cataloging and classification Online databases

See also

References