Death of the Card Catalog
A couple of recent articles that I’ve stumbled across recently are in connection with libraries getting rid of their card catalogs, and how they go about doing so. For many, there is some nostalgia associated with this ever-increasingly common occurrence, and some libraries have found creative ways to commemorate the occasion without going overboard.
As much as I am completely for progress, it’s not without an occasional backwards glance that I forge ahead into the digital age. It’s hard to forget the mounting feeling of anticipation that I felt sitting in one of my college courses after a research paper had been assigned. There was usually a mad rush to the library, where students would each grab a drawer or two from the card catalog, and the hunt was on! I wonder how I would have felt if someone had told me that in my lifetime each student would be able to perform basic research on their cell phones. At that time, the card catalogs were the first stop on an analog trail of research, one that led deep into the stacks of books and, inevitably, to a hole where the sought-after book had resided before a fellow classmate arrived there first.
The articles to which I refer:
The cARTalog grows from the empty drawers of the University of Iowa Libraries’ main card catalog, which was retired in 2004.
At the University of South Carolina, the Card Catalog Makes a Graceful Departure.
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Tags: Digital, Library catalog, Mobile phone
