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What an incredibly stupid article. The author is supposed to be talking about card catalogues, but then keeps talking about books and libraries. We're not getti

by galonk 9y ago

What an incredibly stupid article. The author is supposed to be talking about card catalogues, but then keeps talking about books and libraries. We're not getting rid of those, we're getting rid of card catalogues. Somehow I don't think we should force librarians to keep hand-writing or typing cards for every book, or deprive users of search functions, just for this idiot's BS Wes Anderson aesthetic.

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pram 9y ago
Searching for books using analog cards just has a certain warmth and pleasing aesthetic which digital is tragically missing. - library hipster
anigbrowl 9y ago
You're really missed the point that was being made. It's not a paean to the superiority of card catalogs, but regret for the loss of a time when they delineated the scope of information storage relative to the scope of service provision (the library itself). Librarians are rarely seen as custodians of knowledge, and their job has been downgraded to mere cataloguing. More troublingly, while the the physicality of a card catalog, and typewritten documents before that, imposed limits and therefore selectivity on what degree of information the government could store about a book (and by extension about you), that limit no longer exists so the amount of information stored has exploded while the amount of service provided has remained the same or even diminished, to the general detriment of society. That erstwhile necessity to consult or at least cooperate with librarians also fostered a degree of politeness in social relations.
- in_the_sticks 9y ago
  Bigger words don't validate whatever point is being made.
  - huntersbellend 9y ago
    Nothing like the feeling of looking up words in a physical thesaurus. Digital ones don't give you that same sense of inflated intelligence.
    - anigbrowl 9y ago
      Never having used one, I'll take your word for it.
    - cooper12 9y ago
      Lo, the scourge of anti-intellectualism reaches HN! Looking through their comment, the only word that one would consider "big" might be "erstwhile". Even if they used big words, why use that to attack them instead of considering what they actually wrote (or taking a second to look them up)? This smug piling on is just toxic. People shouldn't revel in ignorance.
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  Librarians are custodians of knowledge and dangerous magical artifacts. ...According to TNT.~ Real librarians have become somewhat less prestigious as their previous roles have been automated. They are now little more than administrators of the information service provider of last resort for poor people.
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    > Real librarians have become somewhat less prestigious as their previous roles have been automated. They are now little more than administrators of the information service provider of last resort for poor people. One of the reasons we still need librarians is that they understand that "information service provider of last resort for poor people" is a vital and noble service. I'm having trouble responding to this without being unreasonably rude. It's just so smug and misinformed. Making information available to everyone, regardless of class, status, or wealth, has always been the primary job of public librarians, and computers and the internet give them more ways to do that than ever. It's never been about prestige.
    - logfromblammo 9y ago
      I also feel it is a vital and noble calling. But fewer people share our views now, as compared to 1970. And like it or not, the prestige of a profession strongly affects the number of people who seek to enter it. Fewer will choose to become professional librarians when municipal library systems employ less with formal training, and task those who have it with serving the prurient interests of transients and homeless people. Sure, some of those people will also be helped to create electronic resume documents, and to access job boards, and to enroll in online education courses, and to generally make their lives better via access to information, and that is what librarians want out of the job, but they will also be crapped on--both by those who feel entitled to the services they provide, and by those who feel they are obsolete relics.
- deleted 9y ago
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by galonk 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

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pram 9y ago

Searching for books using analog cards just has a certain warmth and pleasing aesthetic which digital is tragically missing. - library hipster

anigbrowl 9y ago

You're really missed the point that was being made. It's not a paean to the superiority of card catalogs, but regret for the loss of a time when they delineated the scope of information storage relative to the scope of service provision (the library itself). Librarians are rarely seen as custodians of knowledge, and their job has been downgraded to mere cataloguing. More troublingly, while the the physicality of a card catalog, and typewritten documents before that, imposed limits and therefore selectivity on what degree of information the government could store about a book (and by extension about you), that limit no longer exists so the amount of information stored has exploded while the amount of service provided has remained the same or even diminished, to the general detriment of society. That erstwhile necessity to consult or at least cooperate with librarians also fostered a degree of politeness in social relations.

in_the_sticks 9y ago
Bigger words don't validate whatever point is being made.
- huntersbellend 9y ago
  Nothing like the feeling of looking up words in a physical thesaurus. Digital ones don't give you that same sense of inflated intelligence.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    Never having used one, I'll take your word for it.
  - cooper12 9y ago
    Lo, the scourge of anti-intellectualism reaches HN! Looking through their comment, the only word that one would consider "big" might be "erstwhile". Even if they used big words, why use that to attack them instead of considering what they actually wrote (or taking a second to look them up)? This smug piling on is just toxic. People shouldn't revel in ignorance.
logfromblammo 9y ago
Librarians are custodians of knowledge and dangerous magical artifacts. ...According to TNT.~ Real librarians have become somewhat less prestigious as their previous roles have been automated. They are now little more than administrators of the information service provider of last resort for poor people.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  > Real librarians have become somewhat less prestigious as their previous roles have been automated. They are now little more than administrators of the information service provider of last resort for poor people. One of the reasons we still need librarians is that they understand that "information service provider of last resort for poor people" is a vital and noble service. I'm having trouble responding to this without being unreasonably rude. It's just so smug and misinformed. Making information available to everyone, regardless of class, status, or wealth, has always been the primary job of public librarians, and computers and the internet give them more ways to do that than ever. It's never been about prestige.
  - logfromblammo 9y ago
    I also feel it is a vital and noble calling. But fewer people share our views now, as compared to 1970. And like it or not, the prestige of a profession strongly affects the number of people who seek to enter it. Fewer will choose to become professional librarians when municipal library systems employ less with formal training, and task those who have it with serving the prurient interests of transients and homeless people. Sure, some of those people will also be helped to create electronic resume documents, and to access job boards, and to enroll in online education courses, and to generally make their lives better via access to information, and that is what librarians want out of the job, but they will also be crapped on--both by those who feel entitled to the services they provide, and by those who feel they are obsolete relics.
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