19th Century
1901-1969
1970-1989
1990-1999
21st Century
100
This illuminating invention made locating library materials less hazardous.
What are electrical lights?
100
The creation of this was the first significant application of computer technologies in libraries and became the standard for creating bibliographic records. It also allowed bibliographic data to be entered, stored and disseminated electronically on computer tapes.
What is Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC)?
100
In 1981, the OCLC changed its name from this to the Online Computing Library Center.
What is the Ohio College Library Center?
100
The public version of this was developed from an arrangement between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and is essentially a network of many networks.
What is the Internet?
100
These allow a user to access a virtual library and promote scientific and technical research. They store information in digital formats and make the information accessible over a network.
What are digital libraries?
200
The first one of these appeared after the standardization of the 5 in. x 3 in. card.
What is a card catalog?
200
Created in 1967, this nonprofit corporation sought to provide a centralized network of libraries by providing access to MARC records to it's members.
What is the Online Computing Library Center?
200
Developments in automating basic library functions created these, which reduced duplication of effort and allowed more efficient information sharing.
What are integrated library systems?
200
Originally developed as part of the ARPANET project to transmit message and data, this protocol assigns a numeric address to very computer linked to the Internet.
What is the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
200
These assemble a variety of information resources and link them to services such an online libraries in order to increase the quality and content of searches.
What are web portals?
300
In 1876, he made the first explicit statement regarding the objectives of a card catalog in his Rules for a Printed Dictionary Catalogue.
Who is Charles Ami Cutter?
300
Computerizing special bodies of knowledge for scientific and medical purposes lead to the creation of this special library, one of the greatest in the world.
What is the National Library of Medicine (NLM)?
300
Based on the nineteenth-century logic theory of George Boole, the development of this online search strategy permitted searching using logical connectors which provided more precise access to large bodies of knowledge in shorter periods of time.
What is Boolean searching?
300
This allows the transmission of files containing text, numerical data, sound, and images from one computer to another, and makes large numbers of files available for access or download on demand.
What is File Transfer Protocol (FTP)?
300
This is a computer aided remote service in which people are connected to an entire world of information rather than to items in the local collections.
What is a Digital Reference Service (DRS)?
400
This classification system introduced the concepts of relative location and relative index which allow new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject.
What is the Dewey Decimal System?
400
Created in 1969 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Research Agency, this computer network linked organization at different locations and allowed them to share research and data. It was also the beginning of what would later become the Internet.
What is the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)?
400
The 1980s saw the development of this, which allowed previously incompatible automated systems to be linked together electronically giving online users access to myriad information organizations. It became a national standard for bibliographic information retrieval.
What is the linked systems protocol (LSP)?
400
This application allowed an individual to access thousands of computer systems including databases and library catalogs located anywhere in the world.
What is remote login?
400
This technology uses the frequency spectrum to transfer data on an item that is stored in a small microchip that is usually physically attached to the item, improving security and control of the collection. The data is accessed by an electronic reader and the attached transponder sends the reader the data.
What is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)?
500
This early invention is the process of shrinking photographs to a microscopic scale, and would later be developed into an exceptional preservation medium.
What is microphotography?
500
Reprography, the reproduction of print documents, led to the development of these which had a profound effect on the dissemination of knowledge.
What are duplicating machines or photocopiers?
500
An early example of end-user search systems, these enabled users to access a library's bibliographic records with little or no help from the librarian and offered more flexible search capabilities including searching by author, title, subject, keywords, ISBNs, or combinations of these.
What online public access catalogs (OPACs)?
500
This is the library’s main competition as an information service.
What are Web search engines?
500
According to Caplan (2008), this process protects materials against unauthorized alterations, conserves storage media to avoid deterioration, and maintains digital materials to they can be used over time.
What is digital preservation? Digital preservation as shifted the focus of preservation from protecting an item to increasing access to it.
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