LAME QUESTION!

Okay don’t know if anybody gets obsessed over remembering things from your childhood, but my sister and I have come across something we need major help on! Does anybody remember the 'old school' system of checking out books at a library?

We can remember minor details but cannot remember the EXACT method. I remember that the books would be opened and stacked on top of each other. There were pockets in the back with cards (two cards?), and there was some kind of scanner that the book was scanned under. But there was a button they pressed….and where did they put your library card?

UGH! I know it seems so weird, but we got on this track and CANNOT think of it! To make matters worse, all the libraries are using computers now so the old system is history! Can anybody help a couple of reminiscing souls?

you would wait in line, and hand the person the books opened to the back. they would then stamp the date of return on the card and place it back in the book (i think) then they would rub the book against some machine to deactivate the electronic do not steal the library book thing and hand you back your books.

your library card they would scan to see if you owed money or a book (i think i owe my library 3 dollars) and hand it back to you

I remember this big plastic thing that they would shove each end of the book into...kind of to demagnitize it I guess! I remember this the most because I would always be captivated by the thump da da thump that the book would make when they shoved it against this big 70's looking plastic thing-a-ma-jig.

There were definitely cards in the back that they would stamp with the due date.

I don't remember what they did with the library cards!

our library would take our card and put it on a 'copy machine' (for lack of a better answer) and make a copy of our card and the cards of the books that we checked out. Im not sure how they read those 'copies'. maybe it printed out somewhere else.

I hope that helped!

Lisa

I am not a newlywed, but are you talking about the Card Catalog??? Forget it, misread the first post... I guess I shouldn't be on this bored anyway, sorry

Maybe I am showing my age here but 'in my day' there was one card in a pocket at the back of the book and attached to the book was a date stamp form. Both the card and attached form were stamped. I don't remember a scanner until I was older. And the cards were used to keep track of the books, and filed by title and date due.

Michele I remember that to...
Misty- I was also captivated by the thuump thump...for the book.
I did not ahve scanners on the library cards untill i was in High school...
I remember that each card had a number and each book had two cards. Both were stamped and one was put on file with the card number and the other stayed in the book telling you when it was due.. this way they wwere able to tell when you brought the book back and were able to re-magnatize the book