≫ Download Free The Card Catalog Books Cards and Literary Treasures Library of Congress Carla Hayden Books

The Card Catalog Books Cards and Literary Treasures Library of Congress Carla Hayden Books

Download As PDF : The Card Catalog Books Cards and Literary Treasures Library of Congress Carla Hayden Books

The Card Catalog Books Cards and Literary Treasures Library of Congress Carla Hayden Books

A beautifully constructed book, with an easy, readable history of cataloging and card catalogs, with interspersed images of library cards from the Library of Congress and a images of the corresponding book. It is quite informative and interesting, if you like the history of books.

I am just barely old enough to remember, in the late 1980s and early 1990s: being taught about the card catalogs by the ancient-looking, spinsterish librarians; the ponderous-looking drawers of wood with metal facings; thumbing through the subject cards, author cards, and title cards; the text on the differently colored cards in any number of typewriting and handwriting styles; jotting down call numbers on slips of paper with short pencils; finding the book.

If you're nostalgic for the old cards, you'll find this a perfectly fun book. An excellent look at a lost form of information cataloging, indexing, and presentation.

4.5 of 5 stars.


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The Card Catalog Books Cards and Literary Treasures Library of Congress Carla Hayden Books Reviews

This beautifully produced book will delight lovers of books and libraries. The history of book description and classification at the Library of Congress is interspersed with illustrations and books and cards from the massive LC catalog. As a librarian and user of card catalogs for many years, I found the history fascinating and the illustrations delightful. Every library and library lover should have this book!
What a fun book! I got this book for my bookworm husband and he loves it. Card catalogs have so much history- the librarians, the patrons who checked them out, and the time an older book was popular. It has a little more than just a coffee table book, but it does look beautiful on the shelf too. I recommend this to all bookworm or someone who loves the printed word, they'll appreciate the history, not just the novelty.
The book entitled The Card Catalog, published in 2017, is an illustrated history of the Library of Congress’s old-school database of the same name. The authorship of the book is credited to The Library of Congress in general, though it does include a brief introduction by the current Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. I purchased the ebook edition of this title when it came up as a deal, so that’s what I’m reviewing here. The book is probably more successful as a print volume, however, because even on a large screen the app doesn’t display the photos very large and doesn’t allow zooming.

I am a recent library school graduate with a particular interest in cataloging and classification, so I’m about as close to the intended audience for this book as you can get, though it does make an attempt to appeal to a broader readership of general book lovers. This book succinctly explains, in terms accessible to the lay reader, the continuous struggle to make an ever-expanding inventory of library materials findable and accessible. It is essentially a historical overview of the development of pre-digital metadata used to catalog library collections, beginning with ancient and medieval libraries and then progressing to the modern American library. Along the way, the reader also gains a lot of insight into the broader history of the Library of Congress—its origins, its transformation from a legislators’ reference library to a national public treasure, and its initiation as the bestower of copyright in America. After developing its own card catalog, the Library of Congress instituted its Cataloging Distribution Service, which sent copies of its cards to libraries all across the country, thereby influencing the development of library operations nationwide.

The entire book can be read in about two hours, so it is by no means a comprehensive, authoritative overview on its subject, yet it provides much more information than one would expect from a coffee-table illustrated volume. For those interested in this topic, it gives enough detailed information to make you want to do further research on some of these fascinating people and projects. Towards the end the text touches on the creation of MARC records and computerized catalogs, but that’s pretty much where the narrative ends. The book doesn’t go into detail about the Library of Congress’s digital methods of cataloging because the book is primarily a nostalgic love letter to the physical, many-drawered oak cabinets full of 3 x 5 inch index cards.

This fondness for the tactile card catalog many of us grew up with is evident in the illustrations as well. The book features many historical photos of The Library of Congress—its building, its directors, and its operations. The majority of the illustrations, however, consist of cover images and title pages of classic books coupled with their corresponding cards plucked from the Library’s actual cabinets. Some are handwritten, some typed; some contain annotations and corrections. As a book lover, I could look at pictures of old books all day, and this book contains a lot of beautiful images, but the pictures of the cards really didn’t interest or surprise me much. The overall card catalog system is a monumental achievement, but I didn’t feel the fondness for each individual card that the compilers of this book hoped I would.

Any librarian will definitely enjoy this book. For the general book lover, it’s hard to say, as the text is more about book cataloging than the books themselves. Though the ebook version is a great bargain, the printed volume no doubt provides a far superior reading and viewing experience.
Terrific historical account of the beloved card catalog, and includes wonderful photos of original cards and furniture and libraries. I'm a librarian who gave this as a gift to a retiring caloging librarian friend. She loves it! And she said her husband was fascinated, too.
I discovered in college just what a treat using the library card catalog could be Subjects in the card catalog lead to other previously unconsidered subjects, which increased the depth and width of knowledge about and around the initial subject. This book rekindles that thrill.
I am a retired history teacher and lifelong bibliophile. As a young boy one of my favorite haunts was the library. My first after school job in high school was working as a page in a public library. Suffice it to say, I found this book to be an absolute delight! It is a well written history of how libraries through the ages have tackled the formidable task of cataloging the books in their collections. The illustrations are beautiful and could easily stand alone without any text to make this book a treasure for any book lover.
And maybe not just librarians, but I'm one and can't tell. Good text, interspersed with wonderful card reproductions. Oh, those hand-written cards! They provide a flavor of literacy that will never return.
A beautifully constructed book, with an easy, readable history of cataloging and card catalogs, with interspersed images of library cards from the Library of Congress and a images of the corresponding book. It is quite informative and interesting, if you like the history of books.

I am just barely old enough to remember, in the late 1980s and early 1990s being taught about the card catalogs by the ancient-looking, spinsterish librarians; the ponderous-looking drawers of wood with metal facings; thumbing through the subject cards, author cards, and title cards; the text on the differently colored cards in any number of typewriting and handwriting styles; jotting down call numbers on slips of paper with short pencils; finding the book.

If you're nostalgic for the old cards, you'll find this a perfectly fun book. An excellent look at a lost form of information cataloging, indexing, and presentation.

4.5 of 5 stars.