August 31, 2006
The students are back, the card catalogs are gone
A friend called earlier this week to let me know Brown's Rockefeller Library was dumping all their massive old card catalog cabinets in the trash. Not the best way to get rid of them (why not consign them to a local auction house, with no reserve?), but I couldn't think of anything I could use them for. At last report the dumpster divers were busy at work.
How many university libraries have gotten rid of their card catalogs entirely? Or should I be asking, how many still retain them?
Posted by David on August 31, 2006 8:25 PM
Here's a hint - so many that there's really no market for 'em. We can't give 'em away.
Posted by: Michael Tinkler on August 31, 2006 10:00 PM
No market? There's tons of folks doing the 'getting things done' (by david allen) thing on index cards who scour ebay for the things! Just a month or so ago a bunch of folks were looking for them in various discussion groups.
Posted by: rogueclassicist on September 1, 2006 7:25 AM
The University of Leiden in the Netherlands kept everything. The old system is called "de Leidse boekjes", the Leiden booklets, and are proudly there in the new university library, alongside the computer working room for the students.
Posted by: Folquerto on September 5, 2006 9:19 PM
cronaca.com