File:University of Michigan 4350629840 card catalog.jpg

Here's a picture of the catalog in its heyday when it was located on the 2nd floor of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library.

Last week the Dean of Libraries announced to the staff that the catalog would be removed from the library.

From: Courant, Paul [pnc@umich.edu] Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 11:15 AM To: libraryallstaff@umich.edu Subject: Removal of Card Catalog

Colleagues,

After much deliberation, we have decided that the time has come to remove the old physical card catalog from the Hatcher Graduate Library. The last item was added to the catalog in 1988, and we converted it to digital form in 1989. In its heyday, the card catalog represented 6.1 million volumes. The space in the basement stacks areas in the Graduate Library where the catalog has been housed will be converted to individual and group study space, to help meet the increasing demand from the Library's million plus visitors a year.

It's a bittersweet moment. For many of us, learning to use the library started with learning to use the card catalog, and ours was one of the best in the world. To mark the importance of the catalog in the history of libraries and of our library, and to be able to show the younger generations how it used to be done, we will retain one case, cards intact, for permanent display.

Researchers or nostalgia buffs interested in owning a snapshot in time can purchase catalog cases with cards intact from Property Disposition after March 8th.

Yours,

Paul

Paul N. Courant University Librarian and Dean of Libraries Harold T. Shapiro Collegiate Professor of Public Policy Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Economics and of Information University of Michigan