A little history and a little fun. Great idea and U. of South Carolina.
It’s all in the cards, catalog cards that is.
The librarians at Thomas Cooper are working to hold a series of events to honor the card catalog, its use in the transformation of knowledge and the people who created and used it.
“We want to commemorate it and raise awareness about what it did and all the generations of library staff that made it what it is,” said Jeffrey Makala, the assistant special collections librarian. “Commemorate and celebrate.”
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The latest event is a competition challenging students to get creative and see what theycan make with catalog cards.
“We are looking for different way to get many different types of people involved in the events,” said Marilee Birchfield, a reference librarian at the Thomas Cooper Library.
The competition has four categories: functional (serves a purpose), fashionable (wearable), foundational (building models) and free form. Students are allowed as many cards at they would like and there are no specified rules for the competition.
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New cards haven’t been added to the university card catalog since April 15, 1991. While the catalog is no longer in use, it is an important piece of university history and the librarians didn’t want to just throw it away. But space is limited.
“We needed the space for more desks for students, but we didn’t want to just get rid of it,” said Birchfield.
The catalog is comprised of 3,168 drawers with about 1,260 cards per drawer. This makesfor 3,991,680 cards that have become obsolete.
The Web site dedicated to the card catalog is featuring a different card every day. With interesting tidbits of information on the cards, such as spy books, signed editions and mysterious splotches and spills, librarians are hoping to pique the students’ interest.
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