Computers Clifford Stoll is an astronomer whose work at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories taught him to use computers. When he stumbled across a hacker who had finagled a way into LBL's computers, and who proceeded from there into computers operated by the Defense Department, he tracked him down. Here, he argues that salesmen and alleged authorities have vastly oversold computers, ascribing to them non-existent and even impossible capacities. He warns especially against the wholesale supplantation of libraries by computer-based information systems, a process that often begins with the destruction of the libraries' card catalogues. Card catalogues need maintenance.
Maintenance takes time, and the expenditure of time requires dedication.
Torn or soiled cards must be replaced. New books need cards prepared and installed. This induces a deadly tedium. Where they stood, now sit a few computer terminals. Although tapping on an electronic keyboard beats pounding a mechanical one, boredom is boredom.