In a hands-on ritual that has now largely been replaced by the beep of a bar code reader, borrowing a library book for many decades involved the stamping of a return date on a sheet glued to the front or rear inside cover.
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.
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.
Many libraries have signs begging readers not to reshelve books, but to place them on a shelving table or truck. I've heard academics scoff at the notion that they're not able to reshelve books they've just removed, but that's missing the point. These books are generally scanned to record that they've been used, which can be as effective as checking them out in forestalling deaccession.
Having retired after nearly 40+ years as a librarian in academic libraries, it has always baffled me how little most academics interest themselves in finding out about the actual workings of "their" libraries, choosing instead to speculate (and complain) about processes that they seem to prefer to regard as mysterious, random, and calculated to mystify... Although, as a former Chief Cataloguer and Systems Librarian, I have to concede they're not altogether wrong about that. Where's the fun in making things simple?
I would argue that we librarians don't give academics the opportunity, or at least a clear path forward, to find out about their library's inner workings. They have to take the initiative, usually at a high transaction cost. How would they go about it? Where to even start?
My experience as a chief cataloger at the Folger Library, a small independent research library in D.C., is that academics line up to hear presentations on such things as following a book's life cycle from curatorial identification to acquisition to cataloging to the shelf.
These are good points, Deborah. Things may work differently in the USA, but in most UK universities at least one academic from each of the major faculties will be sitting on an oversight body of some sort, and my impression (possibly wrong) is that this is not one of the most sought after roles, and usually delegated to some bored junior lecturer, whose reports back are little read.
How I would have loved to have given some presentations like that, though! "AACR2 and You!" "Cutter Numbers Demystified!" "Why We Have To Dispose of Stock Under Cover of Darkness"... Too late, now.
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.
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?!
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.
how wonderful! thanks, germaine.
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.
Many libraries have signs begging readers not to reshelve books, but to place them on a shelving table or truck. I've heard academics scoff at the notion that they're not able to reshelve books they've just removed, but that's missing the point. These books are generally scanned to record that they've been used, which can be as effective as checking them out in forestalling deaccession.
that's cleared up a long-standing mystery to me, deborah!
Having retired after nearly 40+ years as a librarian in academic libraries, it has always baffled me how little most academics interest themselves in finding out about the actual workings of "their" libraries, choosing instead to speculate (and complain) about processes that they seem to prefer to regard as mysterious, random, and calculated to mystify... Although, as a former Chief Cataloguer and Systems Librarian, I have to concede they're not altogether wrong about that. Where's the fun in making things simple?
Mike
I would argue that we librarians don't give academics the opportunity, or at least a clear path forward, to find out about their library's inner workings. They have to take the initiative, usually at a high transaction cost. How would they go about it? Where to even start?
My experience as a chief cataloger at the Folger Library, a small independent research library in D.C., is that academics line up to hear presentations on such things as following a book's life cycle from curatorial identification to acquisition to cataloging to the shelf.
These are good points, Deborah. Things may work differently in the USA, but in most UK universities at least one academic from each of the major faculties will be sitting on an oversight body of some sort, and my impression (possibly wrong) is that this is not one of the most sought after roles, and usually delegated to some bored junior lecturer, whose reports back are little read.
How I would have loved to have given some presentations like that, though! "AACR2 and You!" "Cutter Numbers Demystified!" "Why We Have To Dispose of Stock Under Cover of Darkness"... Too late, now.
Mike
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
Delightful post, thank you!
thanks, maureen!
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?!