For Marsha Harper, director of the Brown Library, certain nostalgia is attached to the old card catalog. There was just an aura of flipping those cards. There was even an aroma of cardstock and ink. The wooden drawers were moved to the library's basement in 1995, four years after the online catalog was installed. They are now used to store audiocassettes.
Computer terminals featuring the online catalog fill the role the card catalog once had.
In addition, library computers have access to information through the World Wide Web. The Internet is faster than the traditional system of searching through card catalogs and library shelves, and it allows access to an immense amount of information. But concerns about reliability and the sheer broadness of information require researchers to work to get quality information. Those who use the Internet for research purposes should know that not everything they read online will necessarily be true. The Internet contains a wealth of information that may have been published for any number of reasons.