Early 1970s - Keypunching in a Library Circulation System
My first reaction to Louie's request was to recall the same events Louie recalls—text processing on a mainframe in the Penn State Computer Center. English majors write JCL, but it seemed better than typing and re-typing, which was the other option in 1978.
I learned that early morning (that's 8:00 AM or so) was a good time to use the computer center, and it was through that experience that I learned the REAL reason mainframe computer centers used to close daily for a couple of hours in the early morning. They SAID it was for computer maintenance, but the real reason is so the computer nerds would need to have another place to go—they needed an apartment to live in and dedicated time to take a shower. Otherwise they would never leave the computer center.
After massaging these fond memories, prompted by Louie's request and Louie's own tale, I realized that I had EARLIER computer experiences. That would be keypunching 80-column Hollerith punch cards for the circulation system at Wilson Library, Western Washington State College (now Western Washing University).
The library item's accession number was the one and only key to the data file; for cross-checking we punched in a limited number of characters of the author, the title, and the call number. There was no online catalog, or catalog of any kind. (Well, there was a 3 x 5 card catalog, but it had nothing to do with the computer data; they were two separate manifestations of the same entity.) You could get batch (i.e., overnight) lists on green-bar paper. I think you could get a sort by call number (unless the call number was really long, in which case it wasn't ALL in the computer).
An unfortunate individual had a full-time job keypunching these 80-column cards (as did many people in many businesses, in those days). I did other “Technical Services” (see note below) things in the library, and filled in as keypuncher for items that couldn’t wait during the real keypuncher’s vacations, sick days, and lunches and breaks. This was the early 1970s, and I was in my early 20s.
Louie is interested in these postings including info about technology and resources—“hardware and software, manuals, how-to-do videos, and so on)”—Hah! Outside the computer center, the vocabulary of computing was pretty much limited to computer, keypunch machine, printout. “Software” was not discussed—software was some mainframe programs that ran at the computer center. Training was what other workers could tell you. (Videos had not been invented.)
It seemed nifty at the time. And every incremental improvement in computing has seemed like a gift. You can imagine what a breakthrough personal computers seemed—we got our first home personal computer in 1984.
Note on term “Technical Services”: This a library term that pre-dates and has nothing to do with computers. Technical Services includes acquiring materials, processing materials, creating and maintaining bibliographic records.
Mary
I learned that early morning (that's 8:00 AM or so) was a good time to use the computer center, and it was through that experience that I learned the REAL reason mainframe computer centers used to close daily for a couple of hours in the early morning. They SAID it was for computer maintenance, but the real reason is so the computer nerds would need to have another place to go—they needed an apartment to live in and dedicated time to take a shower. Otherwise they would never leave the computer center.
After massaging these fond memories, prompted by Louie's request and Louie's own tale, I realized that I had EARLIER computer experiences. That would be keypunching 80-column Hollerith punch cards for the circulation system at Wilson Library, Western Washington State College (now Western Washing University).
The library item's accession number was the one and only key to the data file; for cross-checking we punched in a limited number of characters of the author, the title, and the call number. There was no online catalog, or catalog of any kind. (Well, there was a 3 x 5 card catalog, but it had nothing to do with the computer data; they were two separate manifestations of the same entity.) You could get batch (i.e., overnight) lists on green-bar paper. I think you could get a sort by call number (unless the call number was really long, in which case it wasn't ALL in the computer).
An unfortunate individual had a full-time job keypunching these 80-column cards (as did many people in many businesses, in those days). I did other “Technical Services” (see note below) things in the library, and filled in as keypuncher for items that couldn’t wait during the real keypuncher’s vacations, sick days, and lunches and breaks. This was the early 1970s, and I was in my early 20s.
Louie is interested in these postings including info about technology and resources—“hardware and software, manuals, how-to-do videos, and so on)”—Hah! Outside the computer center, the vocabulary of computing was pretty much limited to computer, keypunch machine, printout. “Software” was not discussed—software was some mainframe programs that ran at the computer center. Training was what other workers could tell you. (Videos had not been invented.)
It seemed nifty at the time. And every incremental improvement in computing has seemed like a gift. You can imagine what a breakthrough personal computers seemed—we got our first home personal computer in 1984.
Note on term “Technical Services”: This a library term that pre-dates and has nothing to do with computers. Technical Services includes acquiring materials, processing materials, creating and maintaining bibliographic records.
Mary
posted by Lewis | 8:54 AM
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