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Comment by DougMellon | Hacker News Reader

Books had a pocket glued onto the fly page. The pocket contained a card with the book name on it. When you borrowed the book, the librarian removed the card and wrote your membership number on it, and retained the card. The “return by” date was stamped on the pocket.

The book you were checking out had a little pocket glued to the inside of the cover that held a card with the book name on it. The librarian would write your number on the card and placed it in their filing system. They would then write or stamp the due date on the pocket of the card.

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>They would then write or stamp the due date on the pocket of the card.

One of my small joys as a younger person was discovering a book I was looking at hadn't been checked out for a long time. Seeing a 10 year old due date stamp, or better, a book that had been in the library for a long time that had never been checked out, just gave me a small burst of joy.

I've had this. Such a good feeling. Like finding a forbidden book.

When I first started using the local library (Balham Library, in London), about 40 years ago, I recall:

- the book had that paper thing with dates stamped on it

- I think there was a pocket, but that the librarian emptied the pocket before handing me the book

- the librarian scanned a barcode on both the book and on my library card, during checkout (using a pen-like scanner)

Perhaps I'm mixing memories from different times. Or perhaps I joined the library soon after it was computerized. Perhaps the backend was computerized but they still did the date stamp thing because that was the only way I'd know when the book was due back.

>Perhaps I'm mixing memories from different times. Or perhaps I joined the library soon after it was computerized.

I think I experienced this as well, just in a different country. There was probably no email or website for a patron to check when a book was due so they stamped it. My memory of this is pretty hazy as well.

And I still remember my mom's membership number (at the time I did not have my own membership card), because it just happened to be our postal code.

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