How do you use library?
Libraries inform their users of what materials are available in
their collections and how to access that information. Before the
computer age, this was accomplished by the card catalog - a cabinet
containing many drawers filled with index cards that identified
books and other materials. In a large library, the card catalog
often filled a large room. The emergence of the internet, however,
has led to the adoption of electronic catalog databases (often
referred to as "webcats" or as OPACs, for "online public access
catalog"), which allow users to search the library's holdings from
any location with Internet access. This style of catalog
maintenance is compatible with new types of libraries, such as
digital libraries and distributed libraries, as well as older
libraries that have been retrofitted. Electronic catalog databases
are disfavored by some who believe that the old card catalog system
was both easier to navigate and allowed retention of information,
by writing directly on the cards, that is lost in the electronic
systems. This argument is analogous to the debate over paper books
and e-books. While they have been accused of precipitously throwing
out valuable information in card catalogs, most modern libraries
have nonetheless made the movement to electronic catalog
databases.