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A flash from the past: Before computers

Date: 6/15/2009

By Amanda Butcher

Special to Reminder Publications



When I go to the library searching for a new book to read that my friend said was very good, I look up the book on the computer. This rapid access to all the books in Western and Central Massachusetts public libraries is due to C/WMARS (Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing). I can find the location of the book in seconds - or minutes, depending on which computer I'm using .

Some people can't imagine life without a computer that finds whatever they're looking for automatically without requiring them to think, but there was a time when things weren't so easy.

In 1897, long before Dell, Apple or Microsoft, the East Longmeadow Library dwelled in the town hall with naught but a hundred dollars to start it off. The library was open for two hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Late fees were but two cents per day. There were 264 books and 13 borrowers. Compared to the nine million items lent out to about one million registered borrowers on the C/WMARS system, 264 books is minimal, and 13 borrowers is negligible.

One of the first books in the East Longmeadow Library was called "Our Own Country (World and Its People Series)" by Minna A. Smith. Its title, author, publication date and even where it was bought from were meticulously recorded in an Accessions Book by one of the early librarians in 1903.

In its opening statement, this ancient recording device handled by countless people over the ages says this: "First of all records to be filled, and by no means last in importance, is the book of accessions, the history of the growth of the library. To this the librarian turns for the final reference in doubtful cases. Here is the complete story of each volume, fully told, but in the most compact form."

The Accessions Book from 1903, which I found while exploring the Archives Room in the library, contains each book that was added to the library's collection up until 1912. I was fascinated by the genius of this book, which held lots of information, in a time when technology wasn't as advanced as it is today.

It was the efficient way to find what one was looking for in the early 1900s and it was an easy way to help the librarians keep track of their books. "The card is never misplaced, the entry does not mysteriously disappear, a new edition never supersedes. Once written, 'it is enough,' til the paper grows thin with wear and the binding crumbles with age."

Since then, the books have been handled by hundreds of people and are worn with age, forgotten because of more efficient ways for the libraries' patrons to find what they're looking for. C/WMARS, the Dewey Decimal System, local, state and federal resources and other methods to find books at a library have replaced the Accessions Books. People no longer have to decipher the curly handwriting of the early librarians or search hundreds of pages to find a book.

When I think about how long it must have taken for early library visitors to find what they were looking for, I am grateful for today's technology. I am even thankful for the slow computer that I am using. I don't have to search the thousands of entries in a huge book of accessions to find one single book. In this day and age, I have all the information at the simple click of a mouse.

If you wish to learn more, you may visit the East Longmeadow Public Library's Archives Room where you may ask to view the Accessions Book.