# How Did Library Checkout Work Before Computerizaton? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191 "2010-04-06T20:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![eastcheap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@eastcheap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eastcheap)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/81 "2013-08-15T03:29:53Z")
> [@kuhlcat](#): > > Remember when retail businesses used to put your credit card into a device, put a multi-part carbon form, and manually charge to your card, Just a few years back, European merchants were still doing it with U.S. credit cards (no chip and no PIN). I don’t know if that’s still the case. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/82 "2013-08-15T04:41:48Z")
This thread makes me feel so OLD… Small school library, the old Nun just remembered it all. Woe to anyone who was late… 1947 - 1948 & thereabouts. Get off my lawn !!! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/83 "2013-08-15T11:21:20Z")
I know this is a zombie but this thread brings back a lot of memories. I’m not old (mid 30s) but I remember seeing names of people who had checked books out before on the cards. Our library was on the campus of my school, and some of the less popular books would still have the original cards dating right back to the 1960s when the library was opened. I remember seeing the names of a couple of my teachers on there from when they were kids getting the books out. I also vaguely remember that we had “library tokens”, one for each book we were entitled to have out at once. They were separate from the library card, and as I recall they consisted of cut-out squares of vinyl floor tile or linoleum! I can’t quite recall how the system worked - I think the librarian just took a token and dumped it in a box behind the counter for each book you took out, and then gave you a token back when you returned them. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/84 "2013-08-15T13:32:17Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > My library card when I was a kid (60s and 70s) had a little metal plate with my name and card number on it. The little metal plate thing was also a much more widely used technology. Before computers, companies used to have mailing lists made up of little metal plates. You’d put the litte metal plates into a machine which printed the address onto an envelope. There were millions of them. Since a mailing label is about the size of a credit card, those things were about the size of a credit card. I can’t remember more clearly if they were **exactly** the size of a credit card. but the Wikipedia article on “Credit Card” references the “Addressograph” system. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/85 "2013-08-15T14:07:05Z")
Three years later, Google comes through. We’ve been using the wrong term, apparently. What we call “checking out” is called charging by the hardcore librarians. The stamping machine I described back in 2010 is a Gaylord Model C [book charger](http://www.flickr.com/photos/calicorocklibrary/2513975326/). This [PDF article](https://ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/5693/librarytrendsv5i2h_opt.pdf?sequence=1) describes several other charging systems, including some photographic methods and punch cards. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/86 "2013-08-15T14:13:54Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > This is how it worked at my local library well into the 80s. I guess there must’ve been a massive collection of microfilm somewhere that they kept the records on. > [@jsc1953](#): > > Exactamundo. And if there was a format error in typing either of those call numbers, they would never match. Hmmm… now I get to clarify my zombie self. The “Due Date” cards were the old computer punch cards (as well as stamped with the due date). One job was to go through the return pile and pull the due date cards; they were put in a tray to be processed. Thus, they could be mechanically sorted on return, to generate a list of what numbers were missing. As overdue books are returned. the “outstanding” list got smaller. IIRC, once a book was 4 weeks overdue, someone went through the list and looked up the books on microfilm, sent a nasty letter. (Since the film would have a photo of your card with address and signature, the book card info, and the due date card.) I doubt the films had to pile up. The very very few overdue books not resolved more than a year later, you just print those pictures, file them in delinquent accounts (by client name, I assume) and the film is no longer needed. A simple trick to prevent most typos - like Canadain Social Insurance numbers and I assume social security numbers, there’s a “checksum” digit. Some formula allows the mod 10 sum of all other digits to equal, say, the last digit. A formula like “sum of odd plus twice sum of even digits” makes it much more likely to catch transposed digits, the most common error. Of course, this increses the need for computing power at input stations, but in libraries deealing with tens of thousands of books per month, by the late 60’s computerization was becoming a cost efficient tracking mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/87 "2013-08-15T14:14:03Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Three years later, Google comes through. We’ve been using the wrong term, apparently. What we call “checking out” is called charging by the hardcore librarians. “Charge” and “Check out” are used interchangeably. But “checkout” is the preferred term. “Discharge” and “Return” are also used interchangeably, but no one outside of the blue haired old ladies use “Discharge.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191/88 "2013-08-15T14:20:52Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > “Charge” and “Check out” are used interchangeably. But “checkout” is the preferred term. > > “Discharge” and “Return” are also used interchangeably, but no one outside of the blue haired old ladies use “Discharge.” Concur with bells on. **Knead** Been doin’ this almost 25 years, worked with lots of BHOLs [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-library-checkout-work-before-computerizaton/535191.md?page=4)