Krajewski 2011

Krajewski, Markus. Paper Machines: About Cards & Catalogs, 1548-1929. Trans. by Peter Krapp. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2011.

From Library Guides to the Bureaucratic Era: An Introduction

"This book seeks to map the three basic logical components of every computer onto the card catalog as a 'paper machine,' analyzing its data processing and interfaces that my justify the claim, 'Card catalogs can do anything!'" (3)

"Although the card catalog may appear rather insignificant next to the delicately imposing typewriter, it stubbornly claims its place by its promise of universality. What achievements is this claim based on? Against what background does the paper machine stand out? What roots does this system of recording stem from?" (3)

card index cooccurs with the invention of the house number (4)

"The discursive transfers between institutions and also within the card catalog configure the history of the card catalog. In this book, I seek to write this history from the material, thus allowing many voices to be heard, naturally at the risk of discordant polyphony. However, as the task consists of tying together episodes involving an arrangement of paper slips and their respective links, I will allow index cards to lead the way." (6)

"card indexes not only possess all the basic logical elements of the universal discrete machine -- they also fit a strict understanding theoretical kinematics. The possibility of rearranging its elements makes the card index a machine: if changing the position of a slip of paper and subsequently introducing it in another place means shifting other index cards, this process can be described as a chained mechanism." (7)

"the goal is to point to structural similarity without denying differences. The risk of an imperfect figure of speech is taken because metaphors, allegories, analogies, and parallels harness a specific power of insight this study intends to deploy to good effect." (7)

Temporary Indexing

"Paper slips can be rearranged again and again in different orders, serving as a basis for text production. This method allows the writing of several books at the same time. And finally, it is even possible to cut books up to save oneself the trouble of copying." (14)

"the type case with its compartments for discrete elements is the driving force behind segmented storage as suggested by Gessner for bibliographical units on slips of paper in subject or alphabetical order, for the generation of new texts through recombination. Whether for the production of catalogs or as building blocks for learned excerpts, th carefully stored slips of paper allow long-lasting use. For both type case and card catalog, it is essential to keep the respective materials in a flexible form so as to enable the creation of ever new and different arrangements." (16)

Placcius, De arte excerpendi: of scholarly book organization

• binding slips of paper into books
• boxes for organizing slips; "With their aid, one no longer need worry about errant slips of paper or the difficulty of lack of excerpt mobility. Both variations show internal, replaceable wooden strips that can fix paper slips, either hung with 'needles' or 'pierced on the corners and thus stitched'." (18)

"Thanks to internal mobility, or the permanent potential for reordering, the index catalog emancipates the order of the library from its physical shelving locations." (23)

"in contrast to the fixed entries of a continuous list on sequentially linear pages, paper slips can be reconfigured as freely mobile units in ever new arrangements." (23)

visiting cards

Goethe, book collections as accumulation of capital; "At the very beginning of this paper machine that eventually produces novels and learned texts stand the anonymous catalogs without which the material is inaccessible. The slips of paper in the catalogs become a derivative of the registered writings, the interest rate of amassed capital." (24)