1970s: Integration

1970s: Integration

Enter the computer age

ABBA were rocking the charts, bellbottoms were in, and LP records were ‘cool, man’.  Viewed from today's perspective, the technologies adopted by the ANU Library in this decade may appear passé, however the impact on library staff and patrons was significant.

Photocopying machines were creating a buzz in the library world and their implementation in the ANU Library generated much controversy. Increased usage of microfilm and microfiche—for which the creation of a department with state-of-the-art facilities was intended, but never realised1—saw the introduction of the Libramatics ANU Library fiche catalogue. Along with the oh-so-trendy Polaroid camera which was used by cataloguing staff to photograph bibliographic records, these technologies were integrated into daily tasks and processes.

Meanwhile, ticking along in the background, was “a quiet revolution…led by radical and imaginative changes in the Australian National University Library’s information services...” 2

1 Recollections from an interview with ANU staff member

2 Vidot, Peter Alexander. The History of the Australian National University Library 1946-1996. ANU Library, Canberra, 1996:57