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Hi Adam! Our library (now very advanced) began what then passed for computerization in the late 1950s, but a year or so ago I picked up a book in an area (rapidly dwindling) for really old books that hadn't yet been re-catalogued -- and discovered a card in the pocket at the back with my student signature on it -- 1953.

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Mar 5, 2022Liked by Adam Smyth

I enjoy puzzling over library stamps, too. And I've occasionally checked out a book in hopes of saving it from storage or culling! At the same time, I know that I've used many books that I never checked out. It's one of the terrible things about the computerised systems we have now; they seem to understand nothing about the presence of books. Now I have to order books so that I can look at them and decide they won't do. Or I order them and read one chapter, which I could have previously done in the library without checking the book out.

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Mar 5, 2022Liked by Adam Smyth

One, um, issue to consider is that some if not all of your examples are from libraries that will have been using computerised systems from at least the 1990s, and many will have abandoned the use of the date stamp in favour of automated recall notices sent direct to borrowers. Stamps will still occasionally have been added, e.g. for an inter-library loan, or a loan to a unregistered visitor.

From a library p-o-v the data on book-use returned from the automated system is far superior to the laborious scrutiny of individual bookplates, obviously, so the persistence of stamping (e.g. at Balliol?) probably reflects a veneration for ritual and tradition, rather than any useful purpose. I wouldn't presume to suggest it demonstrates a certain inflexibility of mind...

One downside of barcodes vs. bookplates is that the former are often mistaken for a security device, and cause far more damage to a book when removed, either before or after theft from a library.

Mike

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Mar 5, 2022Liked by Adam Smyth

Delightful post, thank you!

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Don't forget the humble card catalog and the material art made from it -- for examples, University of Iowa Libraries' cARTalog (https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/search/cartalog?type=dismax). But how to create works based on those evocative stamps, slips and pockets?!

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