A database that tracks borrowing records between 1891 and 1902

This Book Is 119 Years Overdue
The wondrous database that reveals what Americans checked out of the library a century ago.
“So when I learned about What Middletown Read, a database that tracks the borrowing records of the Muncie Public Library between 1891 and 1902, I had some of the same feelings physicists probably have when new subatomic particles show up in their cloud chambers. Could you see how many times a particular book had been taken out? Could you find out when? And by whom? Yes, yes, and yes. You could also find out who those patrons were: their age, race, gender, occupation (and whether that made them blue or white collar, skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled), and their names and how they signed them.”

November 21, 2011 by Uncategorized 2

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2 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    November 21, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    Patron privacy
    No issues with patron privacy?

    I realize most of the people are long dead but can I dig up you library records and put them on the web 100 years from now?

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    November 22, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Another source
    Hi-

    There is a recently published book by Wayne Wiegand called: Main Street Public Library: Community Places and Reading Spaces in the Rural Heartland, 1876-1956. http://www.amazon.com/Main-Street-Public-Library-Experience/dp/1609380673/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321972152&sr=1-2 [note typo in Amazon’s record]

    Part of his analysis for each of the four libraries talks about what was read in each community.

    Reply

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