"Strong" might be a slight exaggeration. But the dusty and old wooden cabinet used to search by title or subject or author, a system that seems anachronistic by today's modern world, still exist in parts of America.
According to the Bangor Daily News, an estimated 25 of the 265 libraries in the state of Maine operate off card catalogs. No electronic filing system to be had, yet no worries either. People get by just fine.
Fort Kent--a tiny town against the Canadian border (and terminus point for US Route 1)--still uses the catalog cards at their library, yet patrons don't mind. "Look at how many books there are here," Louis St. Clement, a visitor told the Daily News. "(The librarian) knows each and every one and where to find it."
Alas, even cozy relics have to make way for technology, so even Fort Kent is slowly changing. For two years, the staff of two librarians have been digitally cataloging every book and periodical and research material, one at a time.
"It's been a labor of love," assistant librarian Cheryl Pelletier told the Daily News. "At one point our computer crashed, so for a year we wrote all the information in notebooks to be entered into the computer later."
Yeah--the computer crashed.
Maybe keeping the card catalog around might be a good idea. Just in case.
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