Earlier than computer systems, librarians organized e-book info on playing cards filed in card catalogs. Every e-book had a number of playing cards with particulars like title, creator, and topic, filed alphabetically for simple looking by patrons. Catalogers created this human-made metadata.
h/t: vintag.es
Librarians additionally used a ‘Librarians only’ shelf listing, a cupboard with playing cards ordered just like the books on cabinets, marked with color-coded clips to point standing (e.g., Black = lacking, Blue = being repaired). In the course of the transition to computer systems, clips indicated which playing cards had been copied.
To point particular e-book places with out altering playing cards, librarians used plastic covers with coloured stripes, with indicators explaining the colours (e.g., Pink = Reference cabinets, Inexperienced = Youngsters’s assortment).