card catalogs
Pre-digital book finding
Card catalogs is the plural of card catalog, a system of index cards used to organize library collections.
Each card contains information about a single book—author, title, subject, call number—filed alphabetically in wooden drawers.
Once essential to finding anything in a library, card catalogs have been almost entirely replaced by digital search systems.
She flipped through the card catalog looking for books on astronomy.
- stacksVertical arrangements of items
- drawerSliding furniture compartment
- libraryBook collection or building
- public libraryFree community book repository
- Dewey Decimal ClassificationLibrary cataloging by numbers
archives · library science · bibliographies · reading rooms · call number · research · paper trail · filing cabinet · old school · cross-reference · rare books · classification systems · special collections · digitization · reference works · microfilm · library collections · librarian
- librarieslibrarians, public libraries, librarian, public library, research libraries
- obsolete techfloppy disk, VHS, dial-up modem, cassette tape, floppy disks
- public librarieslibrarians, books, borrowing, checkout, due dates
- school librarylibrarian, librarians, school librarian, books, bookshelves
- literary librariesforbidden books, rare books, secret archives, hidden knowledge, ancient texts
- library sciencecall numbers, Library of Congress, holdings, collections, stacks
card catalogssearch engines
Internet lookup tools
Google · full-text search · keyword search · online catalogs · online databases
card catalogsdigital archives
Electronically stored historical records
digital catalogs · online databases · automated systems · e-resources · virtual libraries
card, cards, carded, carding, catalog, catalogs, cataloged, cataloging, cataloguer