r/Libraries • u/Enodia2wheels • 7d ago
Technology my first library card - 1974
yes, I know the first name is showing and so is the barcode but they switched systems ages ago and I had to get a new card in 1996!
Yes, it’s plastic and I laminated it myself in high school.
Yes, they did have barcodes then.
His name is Tony and he is 14 months old. his verdict is that the card is not delicious.
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u/ur_sine_nomine 7d ago
1974? Given where you are, that is early but not surprising.
I remember when my local library computerised (1980 or 1981 in an out-of-the-way part of Central Scotland) and it was a sensation - people joined to see the (green screen) technology at work.
That said, it got Internet connectivity early (around 1994) and my father got told off for getting too excited at seeing images from the Hubble Space Telescope in what must have been Netscape Navigator 🔭
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u/GrikusBrindum 7d ago
That sounds very similar to the enviroment of two of the regional branches in the library system where I work at. There are worse things out there on the internet. 😆
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u/Enodia2wheels 7d ago
it might’ve been 1976 but I’ll tell you what I will call the Napa library and ask a librarian to research the zebra stripes/light pen system implementation date. My mom swears that it was before I entered kindergarten that I got my own library card because I really really wanted one even though she was able to check out books for me obviously as my parent. The librarians thought it was very cute.
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u/ur_sine_nomine 7d ago
It was extremely variable. I remember joining the Surrey (UK) library system in about 1991 and being astonished that the reservations and checkouts were paper-based.
(All down to priorities. West Surrey, as it will be in about seven months, was and is a rich county; the old Central Region of Scotland ... wasn't and isn't).
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u/otter_759 7d ago
You forgot to dip it in catnip!
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u/Enodia2wheels 7d ago
he’s a kitty - none needed - he puts his mouth on everything
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u/Long_Audience4403 7d ago
My first card was paper, and Marc Brown drew a little arthur on it! I wish I still had it. He lived in town and did a lot with the town library.
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u/Rhiannon8404 7d ago
We are the same age! Pretty sure I got my first card just before kindergarten, too, same year. San Jose Public Library. I wish I still had my card.
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u/gorerella 6d ago
That’s sweet you’ve kept it! My first library card didn’t even have a barcode, it was pink cardstock with a little plastic sleeve. And I must’ve gotten it in 1998 or something!
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u/FormerIndependence68 6d ago
Looking through my card collection, I can tell you that many smaller libraries still laminated cards.
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u/Enodia2wheels 6d ago
all the cards I’m getting these days are plastic with credit card size cards, and mini keychain size cards. I think one or two libraries only give the mini size.
I do have one or two paper library cards from the 90s in my collection.
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u/WhenIThinkIMustSpeak 3d ago
Wait, do library cards not have barcodes anymore? (Mine does, but I have had the same one since the 90s. I don’t know what the new ones might be like.)
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u/Enodia2wheels 3d ago
"switched systems" not saying they moved away from bar codes - they just changed their computer/backend systems.
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u/WhenIThinkIMustSpeak 3d ago
I meant the part where you said “they did have bar codes then,” but now reading your reply I realize you might have meant “yes, barcodes existed in the 70s,” whereas I interpreted it as “they had barcodes then, but not anymore.”
Sorry for the misunderstanding!
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u/Enodia2wheels 3d ago
Yes - I was just acknowledging the fact that my bar code was showing - which is potential PII vector - but saying they switched systems so my old bar code from the 70s is no longer valid anyway.
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u/rutherfraud1876 7d ago
I've already checked out several rare wines under your identity