CULTURAL MEDIATION AND DIGITAL CURATION IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OPAC IN LIGHT OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Keywords:
Public libraries, Digital curation, Cultural mediation, OPACAbstract
The Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) remains a central tool in public libraries, yet its communicational and curatorial potential is still largely underexplored. This article offers a critical reflection on the strategic use of the OPAC as a platform for digital curation and cultural mediation, examining its functionalities as instruments for collection promotion, information literacy and civic participation. The study adopts a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach, framed as a dissertative essay, and is based on a case study of the Fernando Piteira Santos Municipal Library (Amadora), which operates using the Koha system. The analysis highlights how the OPAC can function as a living infrastructure for public communication, integrating knowledge organisation and cultural mediation. The paper also discusses the contribution of these practices to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and presents challenges and recommendations for repositioning the OPAC within the contemporary public library ecosystem.
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