Over at MaisonBisson.com Casey has been playing with a prototype of a WordPress plugin that would function as an OPAC.

This is not to replace the ILS, he argues, but to provide a public interface that allows for data to be pulled from multiple sources and to allow user interaction. In it’s current interation, it pulls data from the online catalog, Amazon.com, wikipedia, and I think, Flikr. Being a WordPress plugin, it allows for comments, and all the features of WordPress. Like Jenny, I would love to give it a try on our site.
I really like the idea. I don’t know that it’s ready for prime-time as the primary user interface, but I’ve been thinking of something like this for a “new books” list.

The other significant issue is that this holds the potential of removing the OPAC from the Librayr’s control. Lorcan Dempsey has been pushing libraries to begin developing ways of feeding data into the user’s system. This is an interesting example of what that might look like….