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What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

washingtonpost.com

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Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#61

Post by PhasmaFelis »

logfromblammo wrote: post #52
anigbrowl wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're really missed the point that was being made. It's not a paean to the superiority of card catalogs, but regret for the loss of a time when they delineated the scope of information storage relative to the scope of service provision (the library itself). Librarians are rarely seen as custodians of knowledge, and their job has been downgraded to mere cataloguing. More troublingly, while the the physicality of a ca…

Librarians are custodians of knowledge and dangerous magical artifacts. ...According to TNT.~ Real librarians have become somewhat less prestigious as their previous roles have been automated. They are now little more than administrators of the information service provider of last resort for poor people.

> Real librarians have become somewhat less prestigious as their previous roles have been automated. They are now little more than administrators of the information service provider of last resort for poor people.

One of the reasons we still need librarians is that they understand that "information service provider of last resort for poor people" is a vital and noble service.

I'm having trouble responding to this without being unreasonably rude. It's just so smug and misinformed. Making information available to everyone, regardless of class, status, or wealth, has always been the primary job of public librarians, and computers and the internet give them more ways to do that than ever. It's never been about prestige.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#62

Post by [deleted] »

anigbrowl wrote: post #31
galonk wrote: post #8

What an incredibly stupid article. The author is supposed to be talking about card catalogues, but then keeps talking about books and libraries. We're not getting rid of those, we're getting rid of card catalogues. Somehow I don't think we should force librarians to keep hand-writing or typing cards for every book, or deprive users of search functions, just for this idiot's BS Wes Anderson aesthetic.

You're really missed the point that was being made. It's not a paean to the superiority of card catalogs, but regret for the loss of a time when they delineated the scope of information storage relative to the scope of service provision (the library itself). Librarians are rarely seen as custodians of knowledge, and their job has been downgraded to mere cataloguing. More troublingly, while the the physicality of a ca…

[deleted]

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#63

Post by cakedoggie »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #59

First comment on the article is extremely relevant: > It's almost always non-working-librarians who evince such passionate nostalgia for antiquated technology such as card catalogs, just as I'm sure it's usually non-working-engineers and non-working-mathematicians who passionately yearn for the days of slide rules and good old pencil and paper, rather than these dang new-fangled computers. (Oh, and yes, just for the…

Having studied and worked at a Maths department at a University, it isn't only non-working-mathematicians who hate computers. Most of the professors and staff there hated computers, and how it was changing maths.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#64

Post by labster »

E6300 wrote: post #9
losteverything wrote: post #4

Anyone remember taking Library Class? Learning card catalogue, Dewey decimal system, how to use microfiche, film strips, difference between fiction and non-fiction? Part of cycle: home ec, industrial arts and keyboarding (elec piano)

> difference between fiction and non-fiction Wait, was that actually part of a curriculum? Surely if you know what "fiction" and "non-" mean you can understand the difference between the two.

Not if you're the US President.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#65

Post by huntersbellend »

in_the_sticks wrote: post #38
anigbrowl wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're really missed the point that was being made. It's not a paean to the superiority of card catalogs, but regret for the loss of a time when they delineated the scope of information storage relative to the scope of service provision (the library itself). Librarians are rarely seen as custodians of knowledge, and their job has been downgraded to mere cataloguing. More troublingly, while the the physicality of a ca…

Bigger words don't validate whatever point is being made.

Nothing like the feeling of looking up words in a physical thesaurus. Digital ones don't give you that same sense of inflated intelligence.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#66

Post by mistersquid »

philipkglass wrote: post #22

I remember card catalogs. Modern electronic search is far superior. If searching the card catalog at the public library is "truly democratic," so is searching an electronic index at the public library. You can even perform full-text searches for words that the card-preparer might not have noted -- a huge advantage when researching niche topics that don't get their own books. https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/searchAdvanc…

Like you, I look askance at the author's assertion that the card catalog is "truly democratic". Lindgren writes

  > A national card catalogue system was the original “search
  > engine” — one that needed no electricity, no service
  > providers or broadband or smartphones, and that was truly
  > democratic.
failing to explain that in order to access that card catalog, patrons would have had to travel from their homes all the way to Washington DC.

For someone living in rural Wyoming, Ohio, or even Southeast Virginia, the offline card catalog was hardly "more democratic" than a computer in a public library.

EDIT: Readability.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#67

Post by anigbrowl »

huntersbellend wrote: post #65
in_the_sticks wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bigger words don't validate whatever point is being made.

Nothing like the feeling of looking up words in a physical thesaurus. Digital ones don't give you that same sense of inflated intelligence.

Never having used one, I'll take your word for it.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#68

Post by ams6110 »

Not just the card catalog but the entire concept of library has been lost. Libraries have been transformed from places where people could come to read, research and explore into community homeless shelters that provide online porn access and bathrooms that are basically shooting galleries.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#69

Post by zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC »

aqsalose wrote: post #37
davchana wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samr can happen to physical cards too. Wear and tear, flood, fire, theft, vandalism. Also, its difficult to create copies of physical as compared to digital. The upside of digital is also that you can and should have multiple backups, same as any other digital data.

>For it to be destroyed, you need to cause physical damage However, I'd like to have redundancy. Backups . Library catalogs are quite critical when it comes to using the combined amount of information the humankind has amassed: It's critical infrastructure. We maintain also backups for things like seeds [1]. You would need just an automated machinery to create printout backups once in a while. It does not necessarily…

So, you are saying the library should store some solar panels and spare computers somewhere?

Creating electricity to run a computer is not really that difficult.

Re: What libraries lost when they threw out the card catalog

#70

Post by empthought »

ams6110 wrote: post #68

Not just the card catalog but the entire concept of library has been lost. Libraries have been transformed from places where people could come to read, research and explore into community homeless shelters that provide online porn access and bathrooms that are basically shooting galleries.

This isn't true.

Source: I have bothered to set foot in libraries lately.

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