🚀 go-pugleaf

The comments about the electronic card catalog at the local (where?)
public library were very interesting, although it sounds more like the
system used by the Los Angeles County Library than anything I have seen
at the Los Angeles Public Library.  But I must admit that I haven't
visited my local branch of the Los Angeles Public Library for over a
month.

I agree that the system you describe is reasonably convenient for
looking up a specific title, but not so convenient for browsing.  I
believe it to be a computerized version of an older Los Angeles County
Library catalog system based on microfilm reader technology.  I found
the microfilm system rather slow and cumbersome and, if memory serves me
rightly, the film was updated only once a year, although there were
supplementary hardcopy updates at more frequent intervals.

I find the electronic card catalog system used by the Pasadena and
Glendale public libraries to be more convenient for browsing.  The
Glendale library has fewer public terminals than the Pasadena library
and the waiting time for a free terminal at the Glendale library seems
to be longer than at the Pasadena library, but I have no data to
substantiate this.

One disadvantage of an electronic card catalog is the lack of a backup
when the timesharing system crashes.  The reliability of such systems is
quite good, but they do crash once in a while.  It would be nice if
electronic card catalogs had dial-up ports that patrons could access via
their home computers, although I expect that such ports would be busy
most of the time.

Jim