It's absolutely amazing and mindboggling really to think how far technology has come in the seventeen years since I first began working in public libraries. My first day in a public library back in June 1990 (not that long ago really) was spent sorting coloured transaction cards back into numerical order using a knitting needle! I was not impressed.
When patrons borrowed back then, their library card (which had their name and address typed on the front) was placed under the big camera thingy (can't remember it's technical name). A coloured transaction card with a due date on it would be inserted in the back pocket of the book (which had the title, etc typed on it), beside the membership card...and a big button on the camera would be pressed to take a photo of what was being borrowed.
As items were returned, the transaction cards would be removed from the pockets. The purpose of sorting the cards back into order (with the knitting needle!!!) was to determine which cards in the sequence were missing and therefore overdue, hence needing an overdue notice. Every Monday, the microfiche would be examined and overdue notices typed on a typewriter. This would take one staff member the entire day, and often part of the next day!!!
Gee whiz, and this was only in the 90's; not that long ago really!
Hello to any of my old friends who are still out there in Library Land, nodding your heads and remembering those cursed, coloured transaction cards at that little library service (always a little behind the times back then!!) down by the sea!
Wow...look now! To think, back then we didn't even know what emailing was yet! Never mind googling, blogging, flickring, myspacing and all that other techno-stuff. How much further can it all go? What more can possibly be discovered? How did we live without it?
Sunday, September 23, 2007
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