Filing Cards In A Library Card Catalog
| Field | Library Science |
| Went Obsolete | 1980s-2000s in most libraries |
| Made Obsolete By | Computerized library automation software |
| Knowledge Assumed | Detailed knowledge of library standards, such as AACR or AACR2?. |
| When useful | When working in a small, un-computerized library. Or when looking for material in the catalog of one such, assuming that the clerks there actually followed the official AACR/2 rules instead of simply filing alphabetically. Many special collections and rare book libraries still use card catalogs as the resources required to convert to electronic catalogs are immense. |
| History | In 1877, the American Library Association introduced the Standard Catalogue Card, which entailed discussions and projects to find a standardized furnitore to fit around them. In 1892, Melvil Dewey and Herbert Davidson of Library Bureau, started to plan a product named Vertical Filing Cabinet, succesfully selling it after 1897, subsequently cooperating with Herman Hollerith. Dewey, who has always claimed to have invented the card system, later referenced several colleges to have used predecessors to his ideas, especially Harvard, where Ezra Abbot supposedly used it since 1851 for a catalogue which was opened for public access in 1861. |
