Toronto Reference Library at 40: The Library Catalogue, From Paper to Online

November 23, 2017 | Geerthana

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This month we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Toronto Public Library’s largest branch, Toronto Reference Library (TRL). Over the past 40 years, TRL has undergone some drastic changes; from its relocation to Yonge and Bloor in 1977, to a megacity amalgamation 20 years later, to a major revitalization project in 2014. 

But throughout these 40 years, there has been one piece of technology that has been vital to the functioning of this (or really any) library, and that my friends is the catalogue.

The catalogue has changed over the years. On Wednesday, November 2, 1977, TRL (which was named Metro Toronto Reference Library back then) first opened its doors. The library had relocated from College St. and St. George St. and with the move, came the wonderful wooden card catalogue technology. The catalogue back then was a wooden case with drawers, filled with 3X5 cards (in some systematic order of course) and it stood as the gateway to all of the library's wonders.

Staff sorting through the card catalog at the Metro Toronto Library in 1977.
Staff sorting through the card catalogue at the Metro Toronto Reference Library in 1977.

Metro Toronto Reference Library (MTRL), as it still stands today, had six floors and each department had their own card catalogue that provided access to information on print resources found on just those floors. Every day, clerical staff were given the tedious task of shelving stacks of index cards back into the catalog. What made it more difficult was that each book usually had at least three cards, one for the author’s name, one for the title of the book and one for the subject heading. For the user, this was great because it allowed for multiple access points when searching for materials. 

Apart from directly operating its own library, Metropolitan Toronto Library Board was a regional library system that provided back-up services to the six city and borough public library systems making up the Metropolitan Toronto region (East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Toronto and York). Hence why, separate to the catalogues found in each department, there was the Union Card Catalogue found downstairs in the Bibliographic Centre (where Book Ends is now). The Union Card Catalogue was a combined catalogue and listed the resources of all libraries found in the Metro Toronto Region.  

 

White sign found on the card catalog describes how to find library materials. Wooden sign hanging from the ceiling reads
White signage found on the card catalogue describes how to find library materials. Wooden sign hanging from the ceiling reads the types of catalogues found (Subject, Author and Title) and where (indicated with arrows).
Image of Union card catalogs with telephone on each to assist with inquiries from other libraries.
Union card catalogues with a telephone on top of each bank of catalogues to assist with inquiries from other libraries.

Until 1981, MTLB maintained 42 card catalogues and 15 shelf lists containing around six million cards. In 1981, the library closed its card catalogue and began its venture into the Computer Output Microfilm Catalogues (known as 'COM cats'). COM cats were great as they allowed for the storage of multiple records on a single flat sheet of microfiche. Within just two years, it soon contained 168,000 records.

The task of managing, sorting and filling millions of cards was complex but the mere size of these catalogues was the most obvious problem. As the size of our collection grew, so did the need for more space. The search for alternative methods began! 

Public Access card catalogs found on the floor levels at MTRL.
Public Access card catalogues found on each of the floors at MTRL.

Soon after relocation, MTRL became a contractual user of the University of Toronto Library Automation System (UTLAS). This cataloguing support system was used for searching bibliographic information, online data entry, file storage and maintenance and more. To this day, staff still recall the difficulty they had in learning this software since they were trained remotely over the phone. Prior to amalgamation we had a few other cataloguing systems. Following UTLAS was WLN (Washington Library Network) and in 1995, we had VTLS (Virginia Tech Library System).

For customers, Metrocat was MTRL's first online catalogue. It was the online public access catalogue version of VTLS. TRL staff member, Karen from Access, was able to find this flyer in her locker, for a first time user: 

Metrocat was MTRL's first online catalog.
For customers, Metrocat was MTRL's first online catalogue. It was the online public access catalogue version of VTLS.

In the late 80s, the Union Card Catalogue housed at MTRL was replaced with a Broadart Automation CD-ROM catalogue called MultiCat. MultiCat was installed on 15 workstations at the Reference Library and single workstations at each of the six city and borough public library systems that made up the Metropolitan Toronto Region. This catalogue contained 1.5 million records and the holdings of the reference and the city and borough libraries. MultiCat was a great alternative as it had lower operational costs and made better use of space. 

Finally, in 1996 we had WorldVue. Heather Kessler (TPL's Manager of Acquisition & Cataloguing) describes it as “an in-house built menu system of resources including links to Metrocat, Internet sites, licensed databases and a few other resources”. It was known as a great technology for library users.   

Karie Kerr looking up resources on MTL’s staff only catalogue computers
Karie Kerr looking up resources on MTRL’s staff only catalogue computers.

In 1998, the seven library boards (North York, York, Toronto, East York, Scarborough and Etobicoke) in Metropolitan Toronto decided to unite to become the Toronto Public Library. Having used different systems, amalgamation presented an opportunity to look into ways of combining their resources and to use a single automated library information system. As we became TPL, our long-term venture partnership with the SirsiDynix Corporation began.

Today, SirsiDynix’s Symphony is our integrated library system (ILS), the software we use to manage acquisition, cataloguing, and circulation of the library’s collections. We have built our own website using a content delivery platform and web services to present catalogue data in ways that make sense to library users.

Whether in print form or online, the catalogue has been a powerful instrument and provides us with the necessary tools and information to provide the best service to all our patrons. 

Looking to learn more? Here are some books in our online catalogue to marvel upon, on card catalogues and library classification.

Cataloging the world by alex wright  Glut mastering information through the ages by alex wright  Library classification trends in the 21st century by rayendra kumbhar  Paper machines about cards & catalogs 1548-1929 by markus krajewski  Requiem for the card catalog management issues in automated cataloging by daniel gore  The card catalogue by carla hayden

Special thanks to those who shared their memories with me from over these past 40 years! 

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