I agree with Milissa that it is necessary to keep some sort of paper
copy of all your records, but catalog cards as a search tool are
obsolete, IMO.

-Casandra

On 8/8/12, Milissa Brooks-Ojibway <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> We discontinued our card catalog system in the mid-1990's and haven't
> looked back since, though we do have copies of all the cards in hard-copy
> working files for each accession number, because on the rare occasion
> information was on the cards that was not in any other source such as our
> accession journals, etc.  I then had an intern or myself go through each of
> those files and add all relevant information or provenance to the database
> so it would be easily searchable.
>
> For what it's worth, on a personal level, I mourned the loss of card
> catalogs initially in libraries and museums, but it was purely a
> sentimental response to an old yet faithful system.  I found that it was
> truly redundant to keep the card catalog system, but I will add that I have
> a hard copy of each accession sheet generated by the database even though
> we back up to three different places.    I trust something on paper
> ultimately better than I do the electronic versions, but I depend on the
> electronic version 99% of the time on a day to day basis.
>
> Milissa Brooks-Ojibway
>
> St. Louis County Historical Society
> and
> Lake Superior Railroad Museum
> 506 West Michigan Street
> Duluth, MN  55802
> (218) 733-7583
> (218) 733-7549 (Fridays only)
> [log in to unmask]
>
> On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Joshua K. Blay
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> In our institution we have continued to maintain catalog cards for our
>> museum collection after entering all items into database.  We keep two
>> copies, one is filed by object number, the other by category according to
>> the Chenhall system.
>>
>> As database information is updated, we print updated cards which need to
>> be filed, a labor intensive process.  We regularly backup the database
>> and
>> we have multiple terminals.
>>
>> I was curious how many institutions have discontinued their cards in
>> favor
>> of the computer database?
>>
>> Joshua K. Blay
>> Historical Society of Berks County
>>
>> ==============================**===========================
>> Important Subscriber Information:
>>
>> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/**
>> museum-l-faq/ <http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/> . You may
>> obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one
>> line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the
>> message should read "help" (without the quotes).
>>
>> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
>> [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read
>> "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>>
>>
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
> http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
> information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message
> to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
> (without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
> [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff
> Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).