1960s: Tradition

1960s: Tradition

If patrons of Menzies Library in the 1960s had had iPods, they might have been listening to The Beatles or The Mamas and the Papas while they thumbed the card catalogue drawers or took handwritten notes from the latest journal articles and reference items.

In this newly established bastion of research and learning, however, there was no noise emanating from headphones, chirps from mobile phones, or beep from the self-checkout unit!

Borrowing was completed manually; reference enquiries were answered without access to SuperSearch or the plethora of online resources now available to ANU staff and students; there were no Excel spread sheets for the collation of library statistics, or Endnote for compiling one's thesis bibliography. Library experience without a computer in sight!

From this environment arose the question of automation, which became "the central issue in the Library's development."1 K.Bernie, former Associate Librarian (Administration & Technical Services), reported after his tour of United States and British University libraries that his task was "to investigate more closely the recent advances in the mechanisation and automation of library processes and techniques."2

1Vidot, Peter Alexander. The History of the Australian National University Library 1946-1996. ANU Library, Canberra,1996:39

2ibid.:38