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The Collation

Meet the Hamnet HBCN ("Handy Butt-Cover Note")

When libraries replaced card catalogs with computer catalogs, researchers lost a crucial piece of information: an at-glance indication of relative trustworthiness. Consider this thin slip of paper from the Folger’s card catalog, for example:

Accession-level record from Folger card catalog

Accession-level record from Folger card catalog

Looks fairly preliminary, right? That’s because it is. This is an “accession slip” (referred to in some libraries as a “flimsy”). It was typed up in the Acquisitions Department, then filed in the card catalog as a place-holder until the item could be cataloged.

Now look at the same accession-level information as it would have appeared in Hamnet:

Same accession slip information as it would appear in an online catalog