blyberg.net » Creating a virtual card catalog

Ever get nostalgic for the old card catalog?

I was lurking on #code4lib and someone dropped a link to some fabulous old catalog cards. That reminded me of an idea Eli Neiburger had to make a flash-based card catalog that you could flip through. Never one to let a good idea sit, I decided to work on a variation that would allow visitors to AADL’s catalog a chance to get their hands on a “virtual card catalog”.

Thanks to some handy photoshopping by Eric Klooster, I had some really great card-stock to work with. These have some real character! Here’s one:

Using PHP’s great GD front-end, I threw together an interface to view the cards and a little database that will allow users to add some marginalia. Of course, you can view the cards with or without the comments. Here’s a one with the comments disabled:

The background stock randomly rotates, as well as the handwriting font, so you can get some really neat-looking, unique cards:

Adding a little graffiti is just a matter of typing it in:

An unlimited number of comments can be added for each “position” on the card. They are simply randomly picked from the database and drawn on the image dynamically at render time.

Users can access these via the hitlist now, and soon via the item record itself. Also, I’m working on a way for registered users to save cards in a “personal card catalog”. That way, if they see card they like, they can revisit it later.

I’m sure the layout on these cards is far from orthodox, but they’re still kinda fun. Take a look and play around. Who says the OPAC can’t be fun?

[update 1/20/2006 2:15 PM]

I’ve added the ability for registered users to “collect” cards in their own personal card catalog. Users will then be able to go to their catalog and view the cards they saved (It saves the card exactly how it was. That is, it preserves the same background, fonts, etc). Per Ed’s request, users can also email their cards to friends and co-workers with an optional note.

This is a sample card with the “Add this card to your collection” link:

And this is what the Personal Card Catalog looks like. Notice that each card is thumb-nailed–even the comments:

Obviously, I need to do a little work on the personal card catalog, allowing users to filter, sort, search, etc. But this is a start.

[/update]

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27 Comments so far
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nice! what better way to remember a little bit about a book than to scribble on the card in the card catalog.

It would be fun to be able to flip the card over and write some longer notes. And it would be extra-fun to be able to mail someone a card, with your notes intact, a sort of catalog card as postcard.

It’s funny how the variant card display highlights new things about a book. In particular the call number is very prominent, which led me to want to browse the shelves in that area after seeing a promising book.

Nice little feature! Just the right combination of nostalgia and technology. This should make the Nicholson Bakers of the world happy. I’m constantly amazed at the neat little tricks that you and Edward V. think of to tweak the catalog. Keep up the good work.

John, this is so awesome, and I can’t believe how quickly you threw this together. Next, we need author, title, and subject cards so you can jump to where each would have been in the cardfile for your title and flip around randomly or one at a time. Serendipitous discoveries are a powerful feature of a true card catalog that online catalogs should be able to reproduce.

Yep, I’m working on a way to associate meta-data with the saved cards, as well as a browsing mechanism like you’re suggesting. III poses some very .. well.. unique challenges to that as you well know!

Nice! Is this card generating app available somewhere? I’m thinking of doing a lightning talk at code4lib 2006 on index cards and would like to include this. Oh, and if you haven’t been invited yet (unlikely) why don’t you join us online occasionally in #code4lib. You’ve got lots of admirers in there

Cute, but a little too retro for me. Brings flashbacks to the days when all the big research libraries were doing recon and getting searchable databases, but Princeton –ever unique– chose to image their card catalog. Searches took users to guide card entries, after which they would flip through the images of cards. A version of it is still online.

Oops: here’s that link.

[...] I’m sure tons of people have been posting about this, but I just think this is too cool. I’m also currently in class, but obviously I have screwy priorities, and I just want to post this before I forget. Superpatron led me to this post from this guy. Virtual catalog cards? That we can write on? Every library that has, ahem, disposed of their card catalogs should jump on this! Also, I haven’t been able to explore Ann Arbor District Library’s site, but I’ve heard good things. [...]

Robin,
I’d sure love to see that link, but, alas, it did not come through the second time either.

One more try on the link:
http://library.princeton.edu/catalogs/supplementary.php

[...] (via ultra librarian John Blyberg in superpatronbot. John has written about how he did it.) * * * [...]

[...] blyberg.net » Creating a virtual card catalog [...]

[...] Create a stand-alone version of AADL’s Virtual Card Catalog [...]

When I worked at SUNY Albany way back in the seventies the NY State Library still had handwritten catalog cards by Melville Doi, some using his simplified spelling system, e.g. “Melvil Doi.” Doi do it? You bet we do!

[...] Libraries provide entertainment in the form of books, DVDs, and so on, but libraries and their websites can also be entertaining. Without much effort in this case. WitWiTF, AADL’s virtual catalog cards, various library podcasts, are neat examples of libraries using their skills and unique assets to produce entertaining content. Sweet. [...]

[...] BONUS! Ikke nevnt i podcasten. John Blyberg har laget et system som produserer katalogkort fra vanlige bibliotekdatabaser. Skikkelig biblioteknostalgi og ganske morsomt, spesielt at du kan legge inn kommentarer som dukker opp som håndskrevne notater på kortet. [link] [...]

Amazing and very inventive. Have you thought about offering this up to places like Library Thing or Delicious Library? As fun as it is for patrons, I would love to have it for my own!

[...] 我们行业最大的财富，正在成为我们行业最大的绊脚石。然而事情是可以转化的。以书目数据的处理为核心的图书馆自动化系统，也是数字图书馆集成系统的核心，而不是可以并行的系统，这一点得到越来越多的图书馆软件开发商的认可。于是问题就转化为：数字图书馆集成系统的成败，与能不能玩得转书目数据直接有关。元数据格式都是相通的，但是只是在相通的体系架构中的相通是无缝的、最优的。书目系统的功能需求已经成熟的不得了、也明白的不得了，图书馆员和读者需要的是功能而不是内部数据，不管你葫芦里卖什么药，只要能治病，就能得到认可。实际上我不知道现在SirsiDynix、Endeavor、ExLibris、Innovative等ILS系统中还有多少纯MARC，MARC只是一个临时拼凑出来的影子（虚拟视图）罢了，其作用与Blyberg做的虚拟书目卡片一样，可以让我们的老图书馆员们聊以自慰吧。归类于：日课 — keven @ 3:56 pm [...]

[...] Other social OPACs include Hennepin County Library’s catalog which allows for patron reviews, having reviews from Amazon.com load in the record, and RSS feeds for the reviews. Towards the beginning of the year John Blyberg showed everyone the AADL’s virtual card catalog. There’s also PennTags, which allows students to bookmark records in the Penn Library catalog, as well as PDFs, and websites. Am I missing any others? [...]

[...] Library catalog card template is courtesy of blyberg.net’s Catalog Card Generator. Filed under: Fantasy, Juliet Marillier, The Sevenwaters Trilogy | [...]

[...] *Library catalog card template is courtesy of blyberg.net’s Catalog Card Generator. Filed under: Fantasy, Doran Series, Monica Furlong | [...]

[...] Pour les nostalgiques qui voudraient annoter des catalogues papier virituels : John Blyberg : AADL’s virtual card catalog. [...]

[...] Dit vind ik wel een hele leuke! [...]

[...] 我们行业最大的财富，正在成为我们行业最大的绊脚石。然而事情是可以转化的。以书目数据的处理为核心的图书馆自动化系统，也是数字图书馆集成系统的核心，而不是可以并行的系统，这一点得到越来越多的图书馆软件开发商的认可。于是问题就转化为：数字图书馆集成系统的成败，与能不能玩得转书目数据直接有关。元数据格式都是相通的，但是只是在相通的体系架构中的相通是无缝的、最优的。书目系统的功能需求已经成熟得不得了、也明白得不得了，图书馆员和读者需要的是功能而不是内部数据，不管你葫芦里卖什么药，只要能治病，就能得到认可。实际上我不知道现在SirsiDynix、Endeavor、ExLibris、Innovative等ILS系统中还有多少”纯MARC”，MARC只是一个临时拼凑出来的影子（虚拟视图）罢了，其作用与Blyberg做的虚拟书目卡片一样，可以让我们的老图书馆员们聊以自慰吧。 [...]

Iam an LIS student ex Africa and doing research on the card catalogue when I stumbled onto this. Hey this is great stuff! If I could be updated on anything latest please, please please!!!

[...] blyberg.net » Creating a virtual card catalog “I was lurking on #code4lib and someone dropped a link to some fabulous old catalog cards. That reminded me of an idea Eli Neiburger had to make a flash-based card catalog that you could flip through. Never one to let a good idea sit, I decided to work on (tags: virtual library catalog card michigan paper friv) [...]

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