Past and present - computers, internet, libraries

Ok, a little reminescing:

• Typing up each catalogue entry according to a careful format and layout
• Filing catalogue cards above the rod for someone else to doublecheck before the drawer is put back into the card catalogue
  

• First job as a librarian
• Having no computer on my desk, just the Dewey numbers in my brain and the catalogue folders of computer printout paper updated each month
• Slideshows were produced by taping a cassette with music and commentary, making own slides, and feeding them into a circular dispenser on top of a carousel slide projector.
  

• Computers were for the circulation staff and the program was verry simple - little more than a flashing cursor and a blank screen to which you would type in data
  
• Book orders written up in carbon paper order books
  
• The booksellers showed you boxes of books in the back room or even better took you to the warehouse and out to lunch as well.
  

• Photocopiers arrive and out goes the old inky press
  

• Son longs for a home computer
• We discover the Internet
  
• We get one, 2, 3, laptop

• Library catalogue online
• Librarians use computers to fetch online content as well as books
• Learn how to write a website and publish it to the internet
• Digital cameras and scanners expand ways to use photos
• Computers make library tasks easier, such as copy cataloguing and ordering books online
  

• Web 2.0 expands the things individuals can share online
  
• Libraries catch on, using scanning and publishing tools to share via the official library blog their local studies or genealogy research information, historical photos, online library newsletters, book reviews, and publicity for coming events
• Library sites allow customers to add content such as feedback, book reviews, and comments on what they like about the library
• Displays and presentations can be recorded for viewing on the internet
• Staff can be trained using online training presentations and produce their own slideshows or film to share the same way

See how far we've come since the 70s?
And most of it in the last 10 years.
Thankyou computers and internet!
I miss the thrill of handling the books before buying them though....even the smell of the new paper ... an online bookseller's catalogue is not quite the same.