zation: bibliographic
databases, cataloging, ordering of documents and of course
access to online periodicals (presently more than 100). It is a
window for our different departments, at the Institute but also
elsewhere in France and abroad. It plays a big part in
documentation exchanges with the institutes in the worldwide
Pasteur network. I am trying to make it an interlink adapted to
our needs for exploration and use of the internet. The website
has existed in its present form since 1996 and its audience is
steadily increasing. (...) I build and maintain the webpages
and monitor them regularly. I am also responsible for training
users. The web is an excellent place for training and it is
included in most ongoing discussion about that."

How about the future? "Our relationship with both the
information and the users is what changes. We are increasingly
becoming mediators, and perhaps to a lesser extent 'curators'.
My present activity is typical of this new situation: I am
working to provide quick access to information and to create
effective means of communication, but I also train people to
use these new tools. (...) I think the future of our job is
tied to cooperation and use of common resources. It is
certainly an old project, but it is really the first time we
have had the means to set it up."

= Online catalogs

# OPACs

The internet boosted library catalogs through cyberspace. OPACs
(OPAC: Online Public Access Catalog) were more attractive and
user-friendly than the older print and computer catalogs. Some
catalogs began to give instant online access to the full text
of books and journals, something that would become a major
trend ten years later.

The first step was UNIMARC, as a common bibliographic format
for library catalogs. The IFLA (International Federation of
Library Associations) published the first edition of "UNIMARC:
Universal MARC Format" in 1977, followed by a second edition in
1980 and a "UNIMARC Handbook" in 1983.

UNIMARC (Universal Machine Readable Cataloging) was set up as a
solution to the 20 existing national MARC (Machine Readable
Cataloging) formats. 20 formats meant lack of compatibility and
extensive editing when bibliographic records were exchanged.
With UNIMARC, catalogers would be able to process records
created in any MARC format. Records in one MARC format would
first be converted into UNIMARC, and then be converted into
another MARC format. UNIMARC would also be promote