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I'm from a more metropolitan area i guess. we used library card numbers on those instead of names

> I'm from a more metropolitan area i guess.

I would be surprised if you are from somewhere more metropolitan than Kobe Japan [0]. It is much more likely that you are just young.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keihanshin

Population density is considerably less than that of NYC. Scaling NYC up to 13,000 km² would put the population 90 million

The population density is also much less if we scaled the population of my apartment up to 13,000 km², but that isn't how metropolitan areas are traditionally measured. The NYC metro area includes three states, lots of sprawl - so it is much less dense.

I remember the local village library books only had dates on the borrowing slips.

My library card was a 5x5cm card sleeve. If I borrowed something, the return date was stamped in the book, and on the book's removable 5x15cm slip. That slip was put inside my card, and probably ordered by due date in the librarian's index file.

This was early 1990s in Britain.

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