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A review by angeliqueazul
The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures (Gifts for Book Lovers, Gifts for Librarians, Book Club Gift) by Peter Devereaux, Library of Congress, Carla Hayden
informative
medium-paced
2.5
The design of this book is gorgeous. However, the writing left something to be desired... the concluding paragraphs were absolutely wild in terms of book history facts ("as quills are no longer pressed into wet clay" - um, what?).
Both the title and the blurb makes it seem like this book is a general history of the card catalog, whereas the book is actually 90-95% focused on the card catalog as it relates to the history of the Library of Congress. It was very interesting to learn about the history of the LoC and its catalog, because it had a central role in the development of card catalogs in libraries across the US. However, I would have liked there to be a bit more contextualization (only here and there do we get short mentions about Europe, Asia or the Middle East).
Also, this book is a very quick read because most of the pages show book covers and (mostly) corresponding catalog cards. Unfortunately, the books were chosen based on significance to the American literature canon. I think this is a missed opportunity: I wish that someone had taken the time to look for interesting cards in the card catalog of the LoC to include cards in the book that have notes, or that reveal changes in standards and sentiments over time. Also, none of the cards were explained and we do not get an explanation on how a card catalog is used, which makes this not a very good introduction to the subject matter.
Who is this book for? A lay person might marvel at the pretty pictures but if they have never used a card catalog, they will not learn much; whereas a librarian or researcher will come away dissatisfied by the style over substance approach of this book.
Interesting but disappointing, would not recommend.
Both the title and the blurb makes it seem like this book is a general history of the card catalog, whereas the book is actually 90-95% focused on the card catalog as it relates to the history of the Library of Congress. It was very interesting to learn about the history of the LoC and its catalog, because it had a central role in the development of card catalogs in libraries across the US. However, I would have liked there to be a bit more contextualization (only here and there do we get short mentions about Europe, Asia or the Middle East).
Also, this book is a very quick read because most of the pages show book covers and (mostly) corresponding catalog cards. Unfortunately, the books were chosen based on significance to the American literature canon. I think this is a missed opportunity: I wish that someone had taken the time to look for interesting cards in the card catalog of the LoC to include cards in the book that have notes, or that reveal changes in standards and sentiments over time. Also, none of the cards were explained and we do not get an explanation on how a card catalog is used, which makes this not a very good introduction to the subject matter.
Who is this book for? A lay person might marvel at the pretty pictures but if they have never used a card catalog, they will not learn much; whereas a librarian or researcher will come away dissatisfied by the style over substance approach of this book.
Interesting but disappointing, would not recommend.