A History of Computer Applications in Libraries

Most Important Sentence: "When existing library technologies begin to break down under economic, social, and bibliographical pressures emerging in the late 1950s and early 1960s and librarians began seeking relief in automation, the introduction of automation involved profound misunderstandings between librarians and early systems developers about the nature and professional knowledge and traditions of librarianship on the one hand and of the capabilities of the new technology and what was required for its implementation on the other" (Rayward, 6).

One interesting aspect of library cataloging during this time that illustrates the conflicts within library organization was the dictionary catalog. One the one hand, the dictionary catalog was based on a simple premise. If you knew how the dictionary worked, it was not so much different from a printed dictionary in which the reader understands the "rules". Then again, the dictionary catalog developed over years and years of librarianship, and was therefore also a complex tool. Using the dictionary catalog "was at times extremely difficult" (Rayward, 9). With a system like this, it is not hard to imagine how outsiders might become confused during the rise of library automation.

"Both groups, librarians and technologists alike, I suspect, were caught up in the early days of automation in what might be described as a kind of eschatological discourse filled with promises and prospects of salvation and of disappointed expectations" (Rayward, 12). As a result of miscommunication in the face of a changing information environment, it's no wonder libraries and librarians are still catching up with progress in the age of the Internet.