Librarians have, in recent years, by introducing OPACs, CD-ROM databases and Internet access into their libraries, convincingly demonstrated their ability to master, manage and use advanced technologies. Thus, it has become fashionable to speak of a new librarianship and of a new image of librarians. The perception may be new, and the recognition gratifying, however, in reality librarians have long been pioneering users of new technologies. Contrary to popular notions, librarians have always been among the first to adapt and use the latest information handling and communication technologies.Sumerian librarians made catalogues in 2000 BC using clay tablets, the most advanced medium of the time for record keeping. 1 In the third century BC, the most famous catalogue of antiquity, the catalogue of the library of Alexandria, or the Pínakes of Callimachus, was prepared using the most advanced communication medium of the time, papyrus. 2 (The Pínakes was intended to be copied, and the copies transported, as it is thought to be a comprehensive bibliography based on the holdings of the Alexandrian library, rather than simply a catalogue of its collection). 3 The advent of the industrial age, in the mid-18th century, focused attention on repetitive processes and replaceable parts. The invention by librarians of the card catalogue, composed of standard, replaceable, cards, was clearly in harmony with the ambiance of the time. Paolo Paciaudi created the first known public card catalogue at the public library of Parma in the early 1760s. 4 However, this profound innovation was not met with general approval. Detractors characterized it as a dangerous and useless novelty: dangerous, because -since guide rods had not yet been developed -the order and integrity of the catalogue was at risk; and useless, because the public was thought to be incapable of comprehending its value. This innovation lay dormant for nearly 30 years until it was rediscovered on the eve of the apotheosis of the standard,
