First Card Catalog For Patrons

• Work on the Harvard University library's card catalog began in 1862 and 35,762 handwritten cards were prepared in the first year. Harvard's was the first card catalog available for use by a library's patrons, says LibraryHistoryBuff.com.
  
  

Catalog Cards and Cabinets

• The standard for the "postal" size of the cards of the card catalog (7.5 cm by 12.25 cm) used in most public libraries was established in 1877. Card catalog cabinets, with multiple drawers to hold the cards, became widespread by the early 1900s.
  
  

Function

• The information on a catalog card is standardized and provides the user with information about an item that including the call number (its library location), author, title, publisher and date of publication. Library patrons can search for books by author, title and subject.
  
  

Computer Cataloging

• In the late 1960s, the Library of Congress created the MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) format, and OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) was developed to provide online cataloging to library system members.
  
  

OPACs

• Almost all libraries have now converted to OPACs, or online public access catalogs, making traditional card catalogs obsolete. Online catalogs are far less expensive to maintain and give patrons the advantage of being able to search a library's holdings from any computer, even outside of the library.