I fondly remember the card catalogs in the libraries of my younger days. The sound of the drawers being pulled out, the feel of leafing through the manila-colored cards, and the smell of recently oiled wooden cabinets when I looked for a book I wanted to locate among the aisles of shelves are burned into my memory.
I even knew the Dewey Decimal System somewhat – due to volunteering hours and hours to help out at the school library of Perry Hall Elementary when I was in the fifth grade. Many of you at this point will exclaim out loud: “Card what? Dewey who?”
It seems in this age of computers and instant answers, the time it takes to search through a drawer of cards each labelled with information about a particular book – is wasted time.
Sigh. I beg to differ.
The quiet of the library, the dust motes floating in the light which entered from windows at the rear of the room, the feeling of anticipation as I gazed at books on shelving units taller than me, and the eagerness with which I flipped through those card catalog cards cannot be replaced by an online experience.
So fellow book-lovers, let us mourn the passing of the card catalog! Read more here.
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