196 Matching Annotations
  1. Mar 2024
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/266697740403

      2024-03-02 Listed for sale or best offer at 1,275. 72 drawers with plastic drawers. Darker wood, in good shape. missing 4 rods and has one damaged front frame.

      Likely mid-70s to early 80s

      Freight shipping available or local pick up in Comfort, TX.

      Cost per drawer: $17.70

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/374936561744

      Previously listed (late Summer 2023). Offered for bidding at $7,200 for a Jens Risom Library Card catalog on/around 2023-09-16. Local pickup from Pageland, SC. Ex-library from Davidson College Library in North Carolina tag number 01359.

      Section of 6x5 and another of 6x7 for a total of 72 drawers with a middle section which has two pull out writing drawers.

      Cost per drawer at opening bid: $100.00

      2023-09-25: Relisted at https://www.ebay.com/itm/374948492633

      2024-02-29 Relisted at https://www.ebay.com/itm/375282966486

  2. Feb 2024
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/256416691118

      2024-02-19 120 drawer cabinet, solid in four sections of 8x4 with a set of four writing drawers in the middle. No table, but a very low slung simple base. Listed for $4,000 or best offer for pick up only in Greenbriar, TN. No manufacturer listed. Appears to be all wood and metal, but no photos of internals.

      Relatively rough shape with mediocre finish. Two drawers are mismatched and darker. A couple of the label/pulls are broken or hanging, Missing a few rods. One drawer front is entirely broken.

      Cost per drawer: $33.33 per drawer.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166584466393

      2024-02-06: 15 drawer (5x3) card catalog offered for starting bid of $200. 3 piece sectional with top, drawers and simple table base with spindle legs. Appears to be in maple with polished steel fittings.

      Manufacturer: none listed<br /> Location: Local pick up from Niagara Falls, NY

      Condition: the finish on this is shot and is either cracked, peeling, or generally non-existent on the outside. Missing two rods. Finish on the wood inside appears solid.

      Cost per drawer: - opening bid of $200: $13.33

      This was later relisted at https://www.ebay.com/itm/166595950156 and ultimately sold for $255.00.

      Cost per drawer: $17.00

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/945071177181845/

      2024-02-01 Listed Shaw-Walker four drawer side table for $95 and it sold within a day for local pick up.

      Cost per drawer: $23.75

      I inquired about this, but missed out on it by just a few hours. I totally want a pair of these as end tables for a couch or a cozy club/reading chair.

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/694743405502203/

      Seller description: 1902 Shaw Walker Card Catalog and File Cabinet 3 piece stackable $765 Listed 19 weeks ago in San Bernardino, CA Details

      Condition
      Used - Good
      Color
      Brown
      Material
      Wood
      

      Super nice old antique card catalog Stackable Oak wood Very few marks for its age 1902 original tags inside it Simply elegant piece No missing pieces no scratches 76 t 16 w 19 d

      Jeanie Lowry listing from October 2023 and sold in late 2023 potentially for $765 or less.

      Sectional Shaw-Walker modular card catalog and filing cabinet. 3 sections of 2x3 drawers for 3x5" cards and one section of 2x1 along with a two 8.5x11" filing drawers and a writing desk pullout section.

      22 total drawers but 20 for index cards

      Cost per drawer: $34.77 (sold)

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1020494389229110/

      Solid Gaylord Bros. 60 drawer card catalog for pick up in San Bernardino, CA by Jeanie Lowry on Facebook. Reasonable shape despite some dings, especially to the wood facia at the bottom. One metal drawer pull shorn off, but looks like it had all it's rods as well as three writing drawers in the middle.

      2023-01 Listed for ??<br /> Sold sometime in early 2024 presumably for $525

      Seller description: Beautiful Vintage 1950’s Bro Dart Card Catalog Vintage 60 Drawer Card Catalog One drawer handle has the hook missing 3 of the slide in bars missing Some wear on the bottom panel Drawers are strong with brass handles and screws 60 inches tall 40 1/2 wide 17 1/2 deep Drawers are 5 1/2 inches wide Very heavy Great piece would look so great in a retail setting

      Cost per drawer: $8.75

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/406045722112862/

      2024-02-01 Originally listed for 1,100 or so and slowly decreased to $990 on 2024-02-17 at which point it was listed as "not in stock", so unsure if actually sold.

      Gaylord Bros. 25 drawer modular card catalog in 4 sections including top and table/legs and two drawer sections of 5x2 and 5x3. in reasonable but somewhat rough condition. for pick up in San Bernardino, CA from Jeanie Lowry

      Offered as part of a Facebook garage sale which included a similar 30 drawer catalog with pull out writing desks and a handful of metal card filing cabinets meant for punch cards.

      1960’s 25 Drawer Card Catalog Hard to find item In great shape 40 1/2 T, 33 W, 17 D

    1. Created over a 50-year span from 1939 to 1989, that catalog grew to about 4 million cards in 65 cabinets with 4,000 drawers.

      This is roughly 65 cabinets of 60 drawers each.

      4 million cards over 50 years is approximately 220 cards per day. This isn't directly analogous to my general statistics on number of notes per day for individual people's excerpting practice, but it does give an interesting benchmark for a larger institution and their acquisitions over 50 years. (Be sure to divide by 3 for duplication over author/title/subject overlap, which would be closer to 73 per day)

      Shifted from analog cards to digital version in 1989.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285694648119 16 drawer Gaylord Bros., Wooden card catalog offered for $1,995 on/around 2024-02-10. In excellent condition with all the rods and solid wood.

      Free local pick up in Rutherford, NJ and listed for $513 shipping to Los Angeles.

      Cost per drawer (without shipping): $133

    1. On 3 June 1912 Edward Peacock wrote inshaky handwriting to James Murray from his deathbed: ‘I have been so longill – more than a year and a half, and do not expect ever to recover, that Ihave made up my mind to discontinue The Oxford English Dictionary for thefuture.’ He added in a postscript, ‘I am upwards of eighty years of age.’ Bythen Peacock had been a volunteer for the Dictionary for fifty-four years,making him one of the longest-serving contributors. He had submitted24,806 slips and had given great service to Murray not only as a Reader butas a Subeditor and Specialist too.

      One of the longest serving OED contributors, Edward Peacock wrote 24,806 slips over 54 years which comes to approximately 1.25 notes per day.

    2. The Dictionary’s coverage of the leading transcendentalist, HenryDavid Thoreau, is largely due to the monumental efforts of a single woman,Miss Alice Byington of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, who sent in 5,000 slipsfrom books that included several by Thoreau:

      over how long a period?

    3. The American who sent in the most slips was a clergyman in Ionia,Michigan, Job Pierson. A Presbyterian minister, book collector, and librarian,Pierson had the largest private library in Michigan (which included a bookpublished in the earliest days of printing, from Vienna in 1476). Over elevenyears, from 1879 to 1890, Pierson, who had studied at Williams College andattended Auburn Theological Seminary, sent in 43,055 slips from poetry,drama, and religion. His correspondence with Murray shows the breadth ofhis reading, from Chaucer (10,000 slips) to books on anatomy (5,000 slips),and lumbering (1,000 slips).

      Job Pierson 43,055 slips over 11 years<br /> 10.7 notes per day

    4. Stephen kept sending slips toMurray for twelve years, until 1891

      What was his slip total to give a notes per day calculation?

      (obviously not taking into account his other work...)

    5. Murray received a poignant letter in 1906 fromthe wife of William Sykes of South Devon who had been a one-timeassistant, and faithful Reader and Specialist for twenty-two years, sending in atotal of 16,048 slips: ‘My dear husband died last Friday, the day he receivedyour letter, he was able to read it, and wrote your name in one of the books Iam going to send you eight hours before he died. It took him an hour to writeit, but he made up his mind to do it, and did. The last words he ever wrotewere to you.’ A poignant last line from the impoverished widow reads, ‘I shallsend the books when the probate duty has been paid.’

      William Sykes 16,048 slips over 22 years<br /> (approximately 2 notes per day)

    6. the outright winner was a mysterious character called Thomas Austin Jnr whosent Dr Murray an incredible total of 165,061 over the span of a decade.Second place goes to William Douglas of Primrose Hill who sent in 151,982slips over twenty-two years; third place to Dr Thomas Nadauld Brushfield ofDevon, with 70,277 over twenty-eight years; with Dr William Chester Minorof Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum coming in fourth place with 62,720slips.

      Top slip contributors to OED: 1. Thomas Austin Jnr. 165,061 slips over 10 years (45.22 notes per day) 2. William Douglas 151,982 over 22 years (18.92 notes per day) 3. Thomas Nadauld Brushfield 70,277 over 28 years (1.98 notes per day) 4. William Chester Minor 62,720 slips over 23 years (to 1906) (7.5 notes per day)

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/186286893621

      2024-02-06 Remington Rand 60 drawer modular card catalog offered for sale at $2,500 with local pick up only in Laurel, DE.

      7 pieces: table/base; writing drawer with 2 pull outs, top, and 4 sections of 5x3 drawers.

      Condition: Generally pretty good. Missing manufacturer plackard, Missing 15 rods. Some finish/paint peeling on the top.

      Cost per drawer: $41.66

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/116060316468

      2024-02-06 Gaylord Bros. modular 3 piece card catalog with 15 drawers (5x3), table, and top offered for bidding at $500 with a buy it now of $2,000. Local pick up only from Franklin Square, NY.

      In pretty dreadful condition, mismatched drawers, wood and metal with plastic trays in drawers instead of wood. Heavy water damage to stain/finish on the top.

      Cost per drawer: - minimum auction price of $500: $33.33 - buy it now price of $2,000: $133.33

      I suspect this won't sell for quite a while at this price and in this condition.

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/899978637990824/

      Steelcase 8 drawer (x 2 rows per drawer) card index offered for $450 in downtown Los Angeles area in late December 2023. Looks to be in good condition with some nice art deco detailing.

      Antique two tone card file with 8 drawers. Extremely rare in excellent condition. Detailed handles and opener latch with beautiful metal work. These typically sell for $1400 or more so it is priced to sell. Possible delivey depnding on your location. 52" height x 15" across x 28" deep

      Most likely for 4x6" index cards, but messaged owner to check

      Cost per drawer: $28.12

      Likely capacity: 57,000 cards

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1511212389452724/

      60 drawer wooden card catalog in a very long 12x5 configuration offered for sale at $800 on Facebook marketplace in September 2023. Sold in the fall for unknown price, though likely close to 800.

      Cost per drawer: $13.33

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/7016702761714807/

      2023-09 36 drawer wooden card catalog (no manufacturer; looks custom) offered for $850 and sold sometime in the fall 2023. Rough, but rustic shape. Possibly a modular unit of two 6x3 sections with a custom top attached.

      Cost per drawer: $23.60

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2356693964529700/

      2024-01 Offering three Cole Steel card filing cabinets for $165 each. Industrial beige 20 gauge steel in good condition with locks.

      Size: 52 h x 19 w x 29 d

      10 sections of 2 drawers for 20 actual drawers.

      Based on communication with the seller their internal space is 4" high by 7.5" so they were likely designed for punch cards (7 3/8 by 3 1/4").

      Cost per drawer: $8.25.

  3. Jan 2024
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/126307745144

      78 drawer library card catalog cabinet offered for sale for $850 with local pick up only from Bennington, VT on 2024-01-31.

      Solid single cabinet likely in maple. Missing all rods, water spots, stain missing, lots of scratches and scrapes. Not in great condition. No manufacturer listed.

      Cost per drawer: $10.90

      (one of the lowest per drawer, but also in bad shape.)

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325982555744

      15 drawer card catalog offered 2024-01-31 for $2995.00 with freight shipping (extra) from South Bend, IN. Looks to be in walnut and chrome.

      Unknown manufacturer and doesn't look familiar. Odd drawer pulls, but looks in good shape and has all rods. Bottom base in chrome.

      Cost per drawer: 200.00

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325982715454

      35 drawer modular card catalog in light mid century modern design. Table with stick legs a 5x6 section including two pull out writing drawers, a 5x1 section and a top. Likely maple, in great shape. All wood and metal, includes all rods.

      Listed in 2024-01-29 for $3995.00 with freight shipping extra from South Bend, IN

      Labeled as a Centura 400 (model?)

      Cost per drawer: $114.00

      This is the first time I've seen a catalog from Sjöström on the market though on searching there are a handful floating around.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/176211857378

      All wood and metal 12 drawer Brodart card index offered for auction on 2024-01-28 for $500.00 or best offer. Good condition despite missing a rod and having mixed silver and brass fittings on the unit. (3 silver drawer pulls/plackards and 5 silver rods with the remainder in brass.)

      Local pick up only from Lock Haven, PA.

      Cost per drawer: 41.66

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/305374515970

      12 drawer (3 x 4) card index from Library Bureau in generally good looking shape from January 2024-01-28 listed for $385.00 (+ a ridiculous $203.77 shipping fee from North Canton, OH to Los Angeles).

      Looks to be ex-library from Colgate University, in all wood and metal and in excellent shape. Missing all the catalog rods however.

      I'm doing the cost per drawer based only on the opening bid price despite the gouging of the shipping price. Many sellers seem to be tacking on an above average shipping charge to pad their sale prices and potentially shift commissions from ebay.

      Cost per drawer: $32.00

    1. Bologna hat am 16. Jänner fast überall im Stadtgebiet eine Höchstgeschwindigkeit von 30 Stundenkilometern eingeführt - vor allem, um die Sicherheit im Straßenverkehr zu erhöhen. Der rechtspopulistische Infrastrukturminister Salvini von der Lega versucht diese Maßnahme teilweise rückgängig zu machen. Die Entwicklung in Bologna wird für viele andere italienische Städte Modellcharakter haben. https://www.repubblica.it/green-and-blue/2024/01/22/news/bologna_30_km_ora_proteste_mobilita_limite_velocita-421938294/

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/404745139607

      2024-01-16 60 drawer card catalog offered for bid at $2100 and buy it now at $4,400. Solid cabinet in good shape, missing one rod. All wood. Has three writing drawers. Shippable from Huffman, TX for $92.83.

      Cost per drawer: - bid offer: $35.00 - buy now: 73.33

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166548034302

      January 2024 15 drawer Gaylord Bros. card catalog in maple offered for $949.95 as local pick up only from Charlotte, NC. Missing two rods, very dodgy finish. Modular three piece: top, 5x3 and table base.

      cost per drawer: $63.33

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/156005054108

      January 2024: offering two separate 60 drawer card catalogs for sale OBO at $3,500.. Semi-modular with separate leg bases. Each has 3 writing drawers. Finish in rough shape, missing some rods.

      Cost per drawer: $29.16 (Presuming both for the $3,500)

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166548086801

      Brodart 9 drawer card catalog. Generally good shape, some issue with finish, no rods. Offered for $250 in January 2024. Pick up or shipping from Garden Grove, CA

      Cost per drawer: $27.77

  4. Dec 2023
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/256350243781

      Library card catalog offered for sale, modular with ten of five drawers each for a total of 50 drawers including a top section and a base with legs, and two writing drawers. For local pick up from Smyrna, GA listed in 2023 (date ??; saw in December 2023) for $799.00. Appears to be in excellent condition. Unsure of all of rods, but most appear present.

      Cost per drawer: $15.98.

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1450438865737791/

      Dark stained oak library catalog (single piece with a solid base) with 9 drawers in four sections of three for a total of 108 drawer listed in mid November 2023 for $3,000. Three or four drawers are missing or have damaged hardware. No extant catalog rods. Otherwise very pretty and darker than most.

      Local pick up only in Moorpark, CA.

      Make/model? Has the look of mid century Gaylord, but it's an uncommon form factor.

      Seller description:

      Vintage library catalog cabinet. Solid oak, 60 width, 69.5 height and 18 inches deep. Some drawers missing hardware. LOCAL PICKUP ONLY IN CITY OF MOORPARK, CA

      Cost per drawer: $27.77

    1. 2023-12 Listing for Remington Rand metal card index filing cabinet with 8 drawers (2 slots per drawer) for 250.00 for local pick up only in Mesa, AZ. Based on exterior dimensions, this would be for 4x6" cards, but it isn't specifically specified.

      Cost per drawer: $15.63

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/145513677777

      2023-12-23 sectional (top and 6x3 section of drawers) 18 drawer card catalog offered for sale with local pick up only in Taunton, MA for $450.00.

      In very rough shape with scratches, finish missing, some warping, peeling, no base, no rods (but also no hardware for rods). Few staples in wood. In good enough shape for easy refinishing without restoration work however.

      Cost per drawer: $25.00

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/276234367177

      Industrial metal card catalog with 9 drawers containing 36 sections for 3x5" index cards. A tenth bottom drawer contains extra non-card space. Offered in late December 2023 for 450.00. Heavily used, stickers in label areas, some exterior hardware missing, some rust visible. Local pick up only in Rosamond, CA. Apparently there is no marking or manufacturing name plate; seller believes it to be Remington from 1940's, but without any evidence.

      Cost per drawer: $12.50

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/374928906916

      2023-12-20 (ish) 15 drawer Library Bureau (division of Remington Rand) partial card catalog offered for $399.75 for local pick up only in Hopkinton, MA. Appears to be wood with plastic drawer inserts.

      It's part of a larger modular system and is missing the top as well as any base. All the rods are missing.

      Cost per drawer: $26.65

    1. Saw listing in early 2023-12 for $650 with local pick up only in Lenoir City, TN. 21 people watching it, so it's probably been up for a while.

      A Remington Rand, oak card catalog with two 6 x 5 sections for a total of 60 drawers in a solid cabinet with a middle section including three writing drawers. Well used moving towards shabby. Missing all the rods and some drawers missing either exterior hardware and/or replaced drawers (wood doesn't quite match).

      Cost per drawer: $10.83

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/186203564942

      2023-12-10 (ish): Listed for bidding with a reserve. This should be an interesting experiment as rarely are these offered this way. I suspect that the reserve won't be met.

      Local pick up from Gainesville, FL.

      Cost per drawer: tk

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166417242257

      72 drawer library card catalog listed for sale on 2023-11-05 for $850.00 with local pick up only in Asheboro, NC. Mid century modern in Maple with plastic drawers. Heavily used and some damage visible, but functional shape. Two sections separated by 3 writing drawers. Likely from 70s.

      Cost per drawer: $11.80.

      2023-11-29 relisting: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126210967207

      2023-12-06 delisted https://www.ebay.com/itm/166481183026 Indicated that it was no longer available, so potentially sold for the $850 (or less)

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/196117658422

      2023-12 A 60 drawer cabinet on aluminum legs missing all the rods. Middle has three writing drawers. Local pick up from Powder Springs, GA.

      I've never seen a model like this. Looks like wooden veneer with aluminum fittings and 70s aluminum legs. Plastic drawers.

      Cost per drawer: $6.25

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/335142753451

      2023-12-06: Gaylord Bros. 9 drawer card catalog listed for $1,100. In rough shape and missing all the rods. Shipping from Alamo, CA.

      Cost per drawer: $122.22

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/176065962090

      Original listing date ?

      2023-12-06: 60 drawer card catalog (Gaylord Bros. though not identified as such) with three writing drawers as a continuous cabinet listed for $1,250 for local pick up only from Lake City, PA.

      Cost per drawer: $20.83

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/266540831146

      Not described as such, but the internal linking mechanisms of the piece indicate it as a Gaylord Brothers card catalog.

      2023-12 Gaylord Bros. 30 drawer modular card catalog with two sections of 15 , a leg base, and writing drawer section with two drawers. Listed for $1,195 for local pick up only in Freeport, OH.

      cost per drawer: $39.83

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166462302430

      This Yawman & Erbe multi-drawer piece sold for $250 by auction on eBay o/a 2023-12-03. A variety of filing drawers, but doesn't appear to have been specifically for index cards.

      Cost per drawer: $8.93

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/314945102079

      It's been listed a while, but first saw 2023-12-02 for $3,699.00. Local pick up from Green Bay, WI and flat rate shipping for $399.00

      35 drawer modular Gaylord Bros. card catalog. 2 sections of 15 and one section of 5 along with a sectional two writing drawers and a table base with thin legs.

      Modest wear, some minor water damage on one section, has all the rods, some sticker damage to finish in label areas.

      cost per drawer: 105.68

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/155791697888

      Offered for $1,292.00 for auction on 2023-09-24 with free local pick up from Bayonne, NJ. Modular, unlabeled Card catalog with standalone (non-interlocking) 5x3 set of drawers and a section with two pull out writing drawers.

      Cost per drawer: $86.13

      This has been listed separately in the past year, but taken off eBay for several months before this relisting. (versus being continually relisted...)

      2023-10-11: Relisted at https://www.ebay.com/itm/155822159839 for $1292.00

      2023-12-02: Relisted at https://www.ebay.com/itm/155923155812 for 1292.00

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/386335942459

      Yawman & Erbe metal filing cabinet for 3x5" index cards with 10 drawers, each with two sections (equivalently 20 drawers). Approximate capacity 27" / 0.0072"/card = 75,000 cards.

      Listed on 2023-12-02 for 800.00 with local pick up only from Putney, VT.

      Looks like some heavy wear; enough that I'd likely refinish it for office use.

      Marking as I don't think I've ever seen a Y&E cabinet made in metal before.

      Cost per drawer: $40.00

  5. Nov 2023
    1. We know we’re supposed to write one idea per page/card. What constitutes an “idea”? How do I identify what a good idea is? What does an idea that fits on one card feel like?

      Here the writer, who doesn't lay out any of the general principles of a zettelkasten practice, automatically presumes one idea per card (presumes it from where? zeitgeist) and then jumps into the question of note size and other semantics.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285562642873

      2023-11-17 Gaylord Bros. modular 15 drawer card catalog with table/stand listed for $2995.00. Almost exactly like the one I paid $250 for (mine had an additional section of drawers.) Looks like it's slightly rougher condition than mine even.

      Cost per drawer: $199.00

      This may be one of the highest I've seen per drawer.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115971327839

      I remember this came on the market in Fall 2023 in September or October for $975.00. it's a modular portion of a card catalog with what looks like an added top. 5 x 4 set of 20 drawers; appears to be in rough shape. Drawers are wood, so maybe late 60s early 70s? No rods.

      2023-11-13, seller sent me an offer to purchase for $400.

      Local pick up from Senatobia, MS.

      Cost per drawer: $48.75 Cost per drawer revised at 400: $20.00

      Even at the lower price, it's a total pass....

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/155882824820

      9 drawer desktop all-wood and metal index card cabinet for sale o/a 2023-11-12. Local pick up from Fargo, ND. Excellent looking condition, all rods, nice detailing and woodwork. Early XX C. Listed for sale at $500.00

      Cost per drawer: $55.55

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/404504721511

      Relisted at https://www.ebay.com/itm/404522331579

      This antique stacking file cabinet set is a beautiful addition to any home or office. Made of oak and manufactured by Globe Wernicke in the United States, these cabinets are both original and handmade. With a height of 78.5 inches, length of 25 inches deep, and width of 33 inches, they provide ample space for storage without taking up too much floor space.

      Modular/stackable, oak, multi-drawer, multi-size index card cabinet by Globe-Wernicke offered around 2023-09-20 for $10,500 (starting bid) or $15,000 (purchase). Free pick up from Lindon, UT.

      Appears to be a section of 6x1 drawers of 3x5 cards, a section of 4x1 5x8 cards, a section of 4x2 drawers for 4x6" cards, two sections of 3x1 drawers for 8.5x11 paper, a cabinet section and a bottm section of two pull out drawers.

      Total of 26 various sized drawers.

      (Second photo shows a separate unit of 9 filing cabinet drawers in three sections of three with a lower cupboard section; are they listed together though? If they're together then one could add another 9 drawers to the original 26 and recalculate the numbers below).

      cost per drawer: $403.84 (opening bid); $576.92 (purchase)<br /> (based on 26 drawers total)

      This is not as common as most certainly and earlier XX C.

    1. Die italienische NGO Legambiente ruft dazu auf, ein Manifest zum Schutz der Alpengletscher zu unterschreiben. Es fördert Governance auf nationaler wie auf europäischer Ebene. Es bezieht sich auf Klimaschutz- wie auf Anpassungsmaßnahmen. Dabei wird auf zentrale Dokumente und Vereinbarungen zum Schutz der alpinen Ökosysteme und der Kryosphäre zurückgegriffen. https://www.repubblica.it/green-and-blue/2023/10/27/news/legambiente_petizione_ghiacciai-418888279/

      Manifest für die Governance der Gletscher und mit ihnen verbundener Ressourcen: https://www.legambiente.it/rapporti-e-osservatori/manifesto-per-una-governance-dei-ghiacciai-e-delle-risorse-connesse/?_gl=11cfz0u4_upMQ.._gaMTkwMjI0NzAzMy4xNjk4Mzg4MDI5_ga_LX7CNT6SDN*MTY5ODM4ODAyNy4xLjAuMTY5ODM4ODAyNy4wLjAuMA..

  6. Oct 2023
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/225760279874

      Gaylord maple library card catalog with 60 drawers in two sections with a section of three drawer pulls and a table leg base in excellent looking condition. Listed on 2023-09-06 for bidding starting at $1,800.00 with free local pick up from Mountain View, CA.

      $30 per drawer

      Bidding ended on 2023-09-15 with 0 bidders.

      2023-09-30 Relisted for $1800 for bid. 2023-10-26 Relisted again $1800 https://www.ebay.com/itm/225841205111

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/175923724353

      42 drawer Shaw-Walker (Chicago - Muskegon - New York) card file. Listed as tiger oak, but seems to have a dark finish/varnish, so couldn't confirm listing. Pictured as a sectional with 4 5x2 sections (one of which looks like it's got metal drawers, a top, and a base with two wider drawers.

      Listed in early October 2023 for $1,000 for pick up only in Maurertown, VA.

      cost per drawer: $23.80

      2023-10-25: Received offer from seller to purchase for $895.00

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325860301209

      Listed as 1950s, but more likely 1970s due to the plastic drawers and galvanized stops.'

      72 drawer card catalog offered for $4500 from South Bend, IN around 2023-10-24. Two sections of 6x6 separated by three writing drawers. No base, so it sits directly on floor. Looks to be in excellent condition with all the card rods.

      Cost per drawer: $62.50

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285528939983

      Offered for $2,200 for local pick up only in Waverly, AL. 60 drawer maple card catalog; all wood, in somewhat rough shape comparatively. Solid unit with two sections of 6x5 separated by three writing drawers and a solid bottom base.

      cost per drawer: $36.67

      missing all the original card catalog rods

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/385498338372

      30 drawer card catalog in 2 parts with two writing drawers in the middle and a matching table stand. In mediocre shape and has two replaced drawers (metal and/or plastic, not wood). Drawers are maed in all wood

      Listed at $1,5000 for over 3 months. $50 per drawer.

      2023-10-12: Still listed for sale. Local pick up only from Brentwood, CA

      cost per drawer: $50

    1. Listed in late summer/early fall 2023.

      Art Metal Company card catalog (drawer sizes maybe 6x9" index cards? with 32 3/4 W x 38 3/4" H x 18 1/2" D). Possibly sectional with top and short leg sections, two sections of 3x2 drawers and a storage section with two doors. Nice patina.

      Listed originally at $1,200 and put on sale in early October 2023 for $960. Local pick up in Savannah, GA.

      Cost per drawer: $85.71 ($68.57 on sale)

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325827924222

      18 drawer library card catalog listed for sale at $1,800 and local pick up in Cabot, AR. Fairly standard looking early century mounted onto a small stand that looks like a repurposed table carriage with legs. (Wood on the two parts is different. Missing 7 drawer pulls, no card catalog rods.

      Cost per drawer: $100

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235238777043

      Uncommon Shaw-Walker 4 drawer card cabinet/side table in a 2x2 configuration with leg-based stand. Listed around 2023-10-04 for $1,375.00.

      Possibly modular and made of 3-4 individual stackable pieces.

      Free pick up or shipment from DeKalb, IL

      cost per drawer: 343.75

      (This may be one of the most expensive per drawer I've ever seen.)

      2023-10-11 The seller made me an offer to purchase for $950.00 bring down the per drawer cost to $237.50.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/155811111944

      2023-10-05 72 drawer library card catalog listed for sale at $850.00 with local pick up only from Mechanicsville, VA. No brand name listed. Plastic drawers with wooden fronts. Two sections of 6x6 drawers separated by a section with three writing drawers. Appears to be a solid piece with a solid base. In generally good condition.

      cost per drawer: $11.80

      Not a bad deal here, esp. if you're local.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/166354962733

      Library Bureau library card catalog with what looks like two 5x5, and two 5x6 sections, one section of five pull out writing desks, and a top making up 110 drawers.

      In rough but serviceable shape, has a few fittings issues and some of the finish is in tough shape along with some wood pieces gouged out. Looks to be all oak (including internals of drawers aside from usual drawer pulls and rods, almost all of which are present.

      Listed on 2023-09-30 for $3,000 for free local pick up from Merced, CA.

      Cost per drawer: $27.27

      2023-10-03: Seller made me an offer to purchase for $2,500.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/126117193513

      Library card catalog section listed for $329.00. Single section of 5x1 with 10 drawers. It's had pieces of material stapled on the top/bottom to cover up the stacking holes. Missing card rods. Drawer internals appear to be plastic (70s or later), rods removed and replaced with carpet/material to cover up holes. For free local pick up in Sacramento, CA.

      Most likely a Gaylord Bros., but not labeled.

      cost per drawer: $32.90

  7. Sep 2023
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235228904441

      2023-09-29 $275.00 starting bid auction Listing of Remington Rand 12 tray section (in 6 drawers) card catalog (possibly 3 x 5" cards, but ad indicates a smaller internal dimension). Meant to be modular with other cabinets and doesn't have the side panels. Drawers pull out on metal sliders.

      Free local pick up from Haymarket, VA

      This cabinet was designed to fit side by side with similar cabinets. It is in excellent condition as shown. Large deep drawers operate smoothly. Original bakelite hardware suggests it may have been made during WW11. Clearly marked USVA . And “Library Bureau.”Cabinet measures 36" tall, 14 1/2" wide, 27" deep. Inside drawers measure 10 1/2" wide, 3 1/2" tall & 24" deep. Very nice old piece with a few scratches and very few dents. Got some nice items in other listings. Pick up in Northern VA or possible delivery.

      cost per drawer: $22.91

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/266424945249

      2023-09-25 offered for $1,350 + $200 shipping from Lawrenceburg, IN to Los Angeles.

      12 drawer 2x6 configuration card index in filing cabinet configuration made of 6 modular/stackable 2x1 units with a small table stand.

      Seller indicates it may have been a Macey, but the label has worn off. Red could potentially have been a Weiss or Macey-Wernicke label? Would need to cross check others. Very early 1900s in oak, all wood with thin metal card stops on rails, but otherwise no other card index rods.

      13.5 x15x42 as measured, so like a 4 x 6" card index, but should double check.

      Cost per drawer: $112.50

      2023-09-27: Seller made a purchase price offer of $1000.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275465128542

      Saw for sale on/around 2023-05-17 for $3,000, though willing to accept $2,500 (or lower). Still on offer 2023-09-24.

      Gaylord Bros. 5 piece sectional library card catalog with two 5x3 sections of drawers, a pull out writing desk (with two pull outs), a top and a base table.

      cost per drawer: $100

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285467601533

      Vintage Y&E mixed card index. Listed in September 2023 for 199.00 with local pick up in Oregon City, OR.

      Appears to be a wooden, quarter sawn oak modular card index with a row of 5 4x6" drawers and two rows of three 6x9 drawers.

      Finish could use some TLC. 33" W x 21.25" H x 17.5" D<br /> 11 Drawers. Each drawer has a track with a working metal card holder that can be repositioned along the track. 2 stacked / stacking sections: Top section has 5 narrow drawers. Bottom section has 6 larger drawers.

      cost per drawer: $18.09

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/256231658514

      60 drawer library card catalog unit with 2 sections of 6x5 drawers separated by three pull out writing drawers with a solid "skirt" base in what appears to be oak with polished metal fittings. Missing all the card catalog rods. Likely 70s, possibly from Remington Rand(?).

      Offered for $1,700 as straight purchase on 2023-09-25

      By labelling it appears to have been used for craft supply storage. Ex-library Cal State Chico.

      Cost per drawer: $28.33

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/155778259293

      Unbranded four drawer 2x2 desktop card index in oak. See on 2023-09-24 offered for $124.99 plus $92.53 shipping from Hobart, IN. Overall 12" H x 15" W x 15" D, so likely for 4 x 6" cards though the listing says "The inside of the drawers are 3 inches deep, 6 inches wide, and 13 inches long."

      Medium condition.

      Cost per drawer: $31.25

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/276059372112

      Vintage wooden card catalog. No brand name listed. Appears to be a grouping of 8 3x2 card indexes with relatively wide spacers between each drawer.

      Total of 48 drawers listed in September 2023 for $1,500 for free pick up in Chicago, IL. <br /> Dimensions 64.75" x 41.6 x 17.5

      cost per drawer: $31.25

      Seller lists it as:

      Blonde maple wood brushed bronze hardware. Approximately 64" x 40" x 18" deep. 3 solid wood slide out writing surfaces Solid wood frame / cabinet and drawer fronts heavy plastic drawer body / inside. All drawers open close, needs cleaning, some handles missing a few screws, has some flaws / damage, see pictures. Sides are not finished. For local pickup located in Chicago 60606.

      Though it looks more like oak than maple and the photos don't indicate any pull out writing drawers. No photo indication of catalog drawer rods on the exterior, but the interior looks like it may have an internal rod for a card stop.

      drawers approx 7.5" high x 5.9" so not sure if they're made for standard sized index cards of a particular type. If the Rubbermaid containers inside are the 6 qt size with Outside Dimensions 13. 375 in. L x 8. 375 in. W x 4. 75 in. H

    1. https://offerup.com/item/detail/aa30b5cf-993e-3077-9c86-5b36b7d7fee9?q=library+card+catalog

      Offered circa July 2023 for $200 and sold circa September 2023.

      Gaylord brothers three piece modular library card catalog circa 1950's. Acquired by seller prior to a school demolition. Top cover appears to be homemade and covered with cloth. Other pieces are standard 5x3 grouping of 15 drawers and lower table unit. Missing all the catalog rods.

      cost per drawer: $13.30

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/703509757975742/

      Remington Rand Library Card Catalog Cabinet $3,500 · In stock<br /> Listed in Altadena, CA, circa May 2023

      Solid unit with base containing two small cabinet compartments and two sections of 6x5 for a total of 60 drawers and three writing drawers. Rods look intact

      62.5"H x 41"W x 19"D 60 drawers and large storage cabinet below. On casters/wheels! Vintage 1950-1960 from Cal Poly Library. Maple Wood Very few blemishes. All drawers with working parts, super clean. No history of any damage. I've reduced the price!

      Cost per drawer: $58.33

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325821466702

      Gaylord Bros. library card catalog offered on 2023-09-21 for $4,995.00 from South Bend, IN.

      60 Drawer modular cabinet with four sections of 5x3 drawers and two separate sections of two pull out writing drawers (for a total of four). Appears to be in good condition, made with internal plastic drawer/trays. Lilely from 60s/70s or later.

      Cost per drawer: $83.25

    1. We should only write on one side of these papers so that in searching through them, we do not have to take out a paper in order to read it. This doubles the space, but not entirely (since we would not write on both sides of all the slips). This consideration is not unimportant as the arrangement of boxes can, after some decades, become so large that it cannot be easily be used from one’s chair. In order to counteract this tendency, I recommend taking normal paper and not card stock.
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/195819504280

      Brodart 72 drawer library card catalog offered for sale for $1995.00 in at least mid 2023 if not earlier. Local pick up from Twin Lake, MI. A bit beat up. Appears to be maybe late 60s/early 70s. Has plastic drawers.

      Two sections of 6x6 separated by three pull out writing desks.

      Cost per drawer. $27.70

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/225779061741

      Listed on 2023-09-17 for starting bid of $600 with a purchase price of $795.00. With $100 shipping to Los Angeles from Bartow, FL.<br /> In excellent looking condition. Restored?<br /> two drawers, but each one has two rows of cards, so technically four drawers.

      Missing card catalog rods, so likely used for something other than cards at one point.

      Cost per drawer: $150 per "drawer" at the opening bid price.

    1. Market analysis of library card catalogs in 2023.

      As card catalogs lost their functionality in libraries and were de-acquisitioned there was a wave of nostalgia which caused people to purchase them, often in auctions, at higher than expected prices. Once they had them, most of these purchasers realized that they didn't have functional uses in their homes for them (beyond wine or liquor bottle storage, small crafts, or use as a zettelkasten, which seem to be the only reasonable upcycling use cases I've seen and the last seems to be very rare and niche). They sit and take up space for very little value in return beyond some esthetic beauty and nostalgia. As a result many soured on their ownership. Most owners naturally want to recoup their original purchase price thinking that relative rarity will save them.

      Combined with this there was a resurgence in mid-century design esthetic which had some furniture restorers and designers buying and doing full (and very pretty) expensive restorations of older 20s - 40s versions which sold at auctions for $4,500 and up. Given the rarity of some of these older, fine furniture versions along with the work in restoration and the limited market only those who had a tinge of nostalgia and money to burn made purchases which resulted in a limited number of actual sales.

      These two factors mean that almost all of the listings for library card catalogs are heavily overvalued on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craig's List, Etsy, etc. The fine furniture restorations have set an artificially high price point which some feel theirs must match as well. The difference in quality however is stark. Because of their size and lack of functionality, there is a relative glut of them on the market which all bear inflated prices. Those who originally spent inordinate amounts for them, feel they will still have that same value to others, so they list them online for inflated prices.

      I've been closely watching the online "market" for them for over a year and see the same several dozen or more listed across the country usually in the range of about $30-$60 per drawer. Many are listed as local pick up only, which further hampers the overall market. This also brings up the issue of shipping a 60 drawer card catalog which can easily run in the $800-$1,500+ range which usually requires additional shipping logistics involved with freight. Most catalogs are already overpriced, but adding an additional $1000 tax on top is a bridge too far for all but the highest end of the market. Some platforms like Etsy and eBay which take cuts of the final sale also add to the cost of the sale.

      In the year and a half or more that I've been watching, I've only seen a handful of actual sales, all of which were local, and many of which were in the Los Angeles area. All of these sales have been for listings which eventually were reduced down to the $15 per drawer range. One local sale was in Wisconsin was for $10 per drawer (a 30 drawer file) and another in Los Angeles was for $12.50 per drawer (on a 20 drawer file).

      A note on condition

      Outside of a small handful of fine furniture listings in the $4,000+ range, most ex-Library card catalogs are generally very well worn and not in great condition which makes them less valuable as decoration pieces. In fact, many are often missing their original card catalog rods, have dents, dings, or other cosmetic issues. Some are missing drawers or have replacement drawers which don't match. Some may be slightly mismatched having been purchased in different eras as modular pieces and put together. Frequently they have been modified from their original states to include inserts or other material to fill in the holes which where almost standard in the bottoms of the drawers.

      Advice

      If you're in the market, know that it is tremendously inflated, a fact which most sellers are aware of as they've got them listed, some for many years, not resulting in actual sales. If you really want one and find it in a reasonable condition, I highly recommend making an offer for it at about $10 per drawer and potentially go up to $15. Anything higher than that is overpaying based on actual recent market conditions. If you have the money to burn, feel free, but keep in mind that like many others in the past, once the initial nostalgia has passed, you've probably got a large piece of relatively non-functional furniture in your home.

      It's not common, but some government auction sites will list card catalogs for auction from time to time. Because they actively want to sell them these can be purchased in the $2-10 per drawer range or less. Often they tend toward the larger 60+ drawer range, aren't in good condition, or need to be picked up and shipped to your final destination, usually within a few days of purchase as the original owners don't or explicitly won't handle shipping. These are likely to need some restoration work to be decorative pieces in many homes.

      If you want something brand new, you can check out Brodart, which is the only remaining card catalog manufacturer/sales firm I'm aware of in the United States. Their systems are modular, so you can pick and choose what you'd like to have. The only caveat is that they start at $1,700 for their smallest 9 drawer model and can go up to $11,648 (plus shipping) for a full 60 drawer model. The other potential drawback, for some, is that they are made of a mixture of wood, metal and plastic versus the all wood and metal fittings of older vintage models.

      If you're in the market primarily for nostalgic reasons, then you might also consider looking at some of the older desktop wooden card catalogs which are often much less expensive, take up far less space, and can be wonderfully decorative. Some of the smaller two to six drawer desktop models have the benefit of potentially serving as recipe boxes or paper rolodexes, zettelkasten, or simply small office storage. Here again, the online markets are likely to be heavily overpriced with 2 drawer models being continually listed at $150 and 4 drawer models in the $250-400 range. These sellers know that these prices don't result in actual sales as they've been sitting on them for long periods of time (presumably hoping to get lucky). Here I'd recommend you make offers in the $20-30 per drawer range to see what you can find. Another benefit is that these smaller models are far cheaper to ship across the country. For additional advice on these, see: The Ultimate Guide to Zettelkasten Index Card Storage.

    1. https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Notes-Write-Allosso-ebook/dp/B0B7FSQP35/

      Dan Allosso purchased a 30 drawer card catalog (three sections of 5 x 2 without any base) for $300 in 2022.

      It's pictured on the cover of his book "How to Make Notes and Write".

      Purchased at $10 per drawer.<br /> local sale

      Price mentioned at the end of Dan Allosso Book Club 2023-09-16.

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1173187669981868/

      24 Drawer steel Card Catalog<br /> $575<br /> Listed Circa May 15, 2023 in Brea, CA

      Rusty Gold! This steel case 24 drawer card catalog cabinet is a beauty. Circa 1950’s this tank is a statement piece. All drawers are working and have amazing original pulls! Measurements 52” tall 34” wide 18.5” deep

      Delivery available for a fee.

      $23.95 per drawer

      Owner indicates: <br /> Each drawer is 16” long<br /> 6” wide<br /> 4.5” tall

      Mfg??<br /> Separates into multiple sections for shipping.

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/977663026818414/

      Gaylord Library Card Catalog 30 Drawer Wood MCM Mid Century offering at $1,350; originally listed at $1,600 Listed circa July 12 ,2023 in San Leandro, CA

      44”x33”x18” total dimensions. Three pieces including traditional table base. with two 5x3 sets of drawers for a total of 30.

      Cost per drawer: original offering: $53.33 updated offering: $45.00

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/271076511951674/

      Appears to be a single piece with two sections of 6x5 drawers for a total of 60 separated by three drawer pulls. In excellent shape, but missing many rods.

      $18.33 per drawer

      Listed in Mid-May 2023 for $1,100 in La Palma, CA

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285223361023

      Brodart Library Card catalog with 60 drawers listed circa Summer 2023 for $1,800 (+62.60 shipping from Pensacola Florida). Appears to be in good condition. Built in solid base and includes three drawer pulls. Doesn't appear to have any rods and looks like it's got plastic drawers rather than wood.

      cost per drawer: $30 per drawer

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/204449941096

      2 drawer 4 x 6" card index<br /> Listed in September 2023 for starting bid of $32.95

      Cost per drawer: $16.45 <br /> Cost per drawer with approx. shipping: $25.75

      Purchased 2023-09-10

    1. 20 Drawer Card Catalog Wood File Cabinet Library Index

      https://www.ebay.com/itm/115903620274

      20 drawer library card catalog <br /> Listed on 2023-09-01 for $975.00<br /> looks like it's in fairly rough shape, doesn't include base/table

      $48.75 per drawer


      Seller sent me an offer to purchase this after showing interest<br /> Item ID: 115903620274 <br /> Buy It Now price: $975.00

      Your offer: $550.00<br /> Offer expires: Sep-04 19:27:15 PDT Seller: olemissauctions(3,468)

      $27.50 per drawer

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115903619447

      15 drawer library card catalog with drawer pulls section<br /> Listed for $875.00 on 2023-09-01<br /> Looks like it's in pretty rough shape and doesn't include table/base

      58.33 per drawer

  8. Aug 2023
    1. In the end, I numbered and scanned 52,569 individual note cards from the Phyllis Diller gag file.

      Hanna BredenbeckCorp numbered and scanned 52,569 index cards from Phyllis Diller's gag file. Prior to this archival effort most estimates for the numbers of cards were in the 40-50,000 range.

      Spanning the 1960s to the 1990s roughly. The index was donated in 2003, so there were certainly no

      Exact dating on the cards may give a better range, particularly if the text can be searched or if there's a database that can be sorted by date.

      Via https://hypothes.is/a/UbW8nERrEe6xjEseEEEy1w we can use the rough dates: 1955-2002 which are the bookends of her career.

      This gives us a rough estimate of:<br /> 2002-1955 = 48 years (inclusive) or 17,520 days (at 365 days per year ignoring leap years)

      52,569/17520 days gives 3.000513698630137 or almost exactly 3 cards (jokes) per day.

      Going further if she was getting 12 laughs (jokes) per minute (her record, see: https://hypothes.is/a/MTLukkRpEe635oPT5lr7qg), then if continuously told, it would have taken her 52,569 jokes/12 jokes/minute = 4,380.75 minutes = 73.0125 hours or 3.0421875 days to tell every joke in her file.

    1. Most of the gags, written from the 1960s to the 1980s, are just like that—one per card. But a few that are more involved sometimes take a few cards to tell.

      Most of Phyllis Diller's gag files are written one joke to a card, but some have multiple jokes and some even span multiple cards.

      (Note this is a secondary source and can/should be verified against the digital files.)

    1. Writing on small cards forces certain habits which would be good even for larger paper, but which I didn’t consider until the small cards made them necessary. It forces ideas to be broken up into simple pieces, which helps to clarify them. Breaking up ideas forces you to link them together explicitly, rather than relying on the linear structure of a notebook to link together chains of thought.

      A statement of the common "one idea per card" (or per note). He doesn't state it, but links to an article whose title is "One Thought Per Note".

      Who else has use this or similar phrasing in the historical record? - Beatrice Webb certainly came pretty close. - Others?

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/266338818001

      Gaylord Bros. 30 drawer library card catalog listed for several months/several times, and finally sold 2023-07-24 for $999.99 (with only one bid) in Whitier California.

      $33.33 per drawer

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/256167582615

      60 drawer library card catalog listed for $1,400 in late May 2023 Sold on 2023-08-11 for best offer (under $1,400)

      Likely the same listing on Facebook for $1,100 at https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/271076511951674/

      likely went for around $18/drawer

  9. Jul 2023
  10. Jun 2023
  11. May 2023
    1. Enter the venerable composition notebook. For $1.507, I get 180 pages at that composition book size (larger than A5) with a reasonably durable hard cover. The paper is quite acceptable for writing and I really don’t care if I make a huge mess within because it’s relatively inexpensive8.

      At Mark Dykeman's rate, to convert to cheap composition books, he's looking at $26/year for the equivalent paper consumption. On a per day basis, it's $0.071 per day in paper.

      This can be compared with my per day cost of $0.421 per day for index cards, which is more expensive, though not $1-2 per day for more expensive notebooks.

    2. I take a lot of notes during my day job. More like a huge amount of notes. On paper. As an experiment I started using several Dingbats* notebooks during the day job to see how they would work4 for me. After about 9 weeks of trials, I learned that I could fill up a 180 page notebook in about 3 weeks, plus or minus a few days. Unfortunately, when you factor in the cost of these notebooks, that’s like spending $1 - $2 per day on notebooks. Dingbats* are lovely, durable notebooks. But my work notes are not going to be enshrined in a museum for the ages5 and until I finally get that sponsorship from Dingbats* or Leuchtuurm19176, I probably need a different solution.

      Mark Dykeman indicates that at regular work, he fills up a 180 page notebook and at the relatively steep cost of notebooks, he's paying $1-2 a day for paper.


      This naturally brings up the idea of what it might cost per day in index cards for some zettlers' practices. I've already got some notes on price of storage...

      As a rough calculation, despite most of my note taking being done digitally, I'm going through a pack of 500 Oxford cards at $12.87 every 5 months at my current pace. This is $0.02574 per card and 5 months is roughly 150 days. My current card cost per day is: $0.02574/card * 500 cards / (150 days) = $12.78/150 days = $0.0858 per day which is far better than $2/day.

      Though if I had an all-physical card habit, I would be using quite a bit more.

      On July 3, 2022 I was at 10,099 annotations and today May 11, 2023 I'm at 15,259 annotations. At one annotation per card that's 5,160 cards in the span of 312 days giving me a cost of $0.02574/card * 5,160 cards / 312 days = $0.421 per day or an average of $153.75 per year averaging 6,036 cards per year.

      (Note that this doesn't also include the average of three physical cards a day I'm using in addition, so the total would be slightly higher.)

      Index cards are thus, quite a bit cheaper a habit than fine stationery notebooks.

    1. How big is your ZettelKasten? .t3_13b0b5c._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #989898; }

      reply to u/jordynfly at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/13b0b5c/how_big_is_your_zettelkasten/

      The idea of notes per day comes up occasionally, here's some discussion on the last go-round: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/11z08fq/comment/jdbnchv/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      Many people, especially when getting started, get wrapped up in the idea of doing this for "increased productivity" or the goal of being as prolific as Niklas Luhmann. I would submit (and think others would back me up anecdotally) that there's far more to the practice than raw (or measurable) productivity as the single, driving value. Perhaps approach it as a way to sharpen and improve your thinking instead? If you're seeing life-like behavior already, that's a good sign of appreciating some of the hidden benefits which are difficult to describe and which are likely more valuable than the "productivity" goals many may have.

      I've noted before that S.D. Goitein had 1/3 less index cards than Luhmann over an equivalent research lifetime, but produced a 1/3 more written output (in terms of books and journal articles). Others like Aby Warburg and Gotthard Deutsch (70,000 notes) had significant practices, but their writing output was marginal at best, though their impact and influence were outsized, in part, I would suggest as a result of their zettelkasten work.

      Others like Roland Barthes (generally low card output of \~12,500) and Deutsch also used their fichier boîte/card index/zettelkasten as teaching tools, so while their written outputs may have varied considerably, their teaching practices were incredibly influential for the students and generations they encountered afterwards.

      This being said, I'll share my current easily countable lower bound dating roughly from 2016 as:

      • 15,200 notes
      • 32,000+ links
      • 2.1M words

      (Having a zk in digital form makes it reasonably easy to do these sorts of counts versus analog methods of note making.)

      Some additional pathways to learning and practicing, including my own, can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/11ay28d/how_did_you_teach_yourself_zettelkasten/

    2. Why are folks so obsessed with notes per day? Perhaps a proxy for toxic capitalism and productivity issues? Is the number of notes the best measure or the things they allow one to do after having made them? What is the best measure? Especially when there are those who use them for other purposes like lecturing, general growth, knowledge acquisition, or even happiness?

    1. I don't show my entire "ZK Stats" all the time. But you might be interested in this little snippet. It helps me keep on top of where the level of my zettelkasting moves. The 10-day and the 100-day workflow give me a trend that I can quickly compare with the "since day zero" to objectively feel my place in the world. This may sound grand, but from the current ZK Stats, I feel my ZK involvement is low because of class. This has been my experience of the periods where my coursework overwhelms my zettelkasting. Maybe overwhelm is too strong a word. I have created 63 notes tagged ENGL501 in the last 12 weeks. I watch this and expect it to rebound in a few weeks. Last year, on this day, I was at 20 notes in 10 days, 204 in 100 days, and 2.12 per day. Today I'm at 13 notes in the last ten days, 152 notes in 100 days, and I've dropped to 2.03 per day. This all can't be blamed on class pressures. Some of it concerns my growing disinterest in the mechanics of zettelkasting and just doing it.

      example of Will's notes output

      931447 total word count<br /> 16190 total link count<br /> 3279 total zettel count

      11 new zettel in the last 10 days<br /> 156 new zettel in the last 100 days<br /> 2.03 zettel created on average since day zero.

    1. For $1,900.00 ?

      reply to rogerscrafford at tk

      Fine furniture comes at a fine price. 🗃️🤩 I suspect that it won't sell for quite a while and one could potentially make an offer at a fraction of that to take it off their hands. It might bear considering that if one had a practice large enough to fill half or more, then that price probably wouldn't seem too steep for the long term security and value of the contents.

      On a price per card of storage for some of the cheaper cardboard or metal boxes you're going to pay about $0.02-0.03 per card, but you'd need about 14 of those to equal this and those aren't always easy to stack and access regularly. With this, even at the full $1,900, you're looking at storage costs of $0.10/card, but you've got a lot more ease of use which will save you a lot of time and headache as more than adequate compensation, particularly if you're regularly using the approximately 20,400 index cards it would hold. Not everyone has the same esthetic, but I suspect that most would find that this will look a lot nicer in your office than 14 cheap cardboard boxes. That many index cards even at discount rates are going to cost you about $825 just in cards much less beautiful, convenient, and highly usable storage.

      Even for some of the more prolific zettelkasten users, this sort of storage is about 20 years of use and if you compare it with $96/year for Notion or $130/year for Evernote, you're probably on par for cost either way, but at least with the wooden option, you don't have to worry about your note storage provider going out of business a few years down the line. Even if you go the "free" Obsidian route, with computers/storage/backups over time, you're probably not going to come out ahead in the long run. It's not all apples to apples comparison and there are differences in some of the affordances, but on balance and put into some perspective, it's probably not the steep investment it may seem.

      And as an added bonus, while you're slowly filling up drawers, as a writer you might appreciate the slowly decreasing wine/whiskey bottle storage over time? A 5 x 8 drawer ought to fit three bottles of wine or as many fifths of Scotch. It'll definitely accommodate a couple of magnums of Jack Daniels. 🥃🍸🍷My experience also tells me that an old fashioned glass can make a convenient following block in card index boxes.

      A crystal old fashioned glass serves as a following block to some index cards and card dividers in a Shaw-Walker card index box (zettelkasten). On the table next to the index are a fifth of Scotch (Glenmorangie) and a bowl of lemons.

  12. Apr 2023
    1. The Zettelkasten needs a couple of years to reach critical mass.

      I find that this is not the case. Even a few hundred cards is more than enough to create something interesting.

      Though what does he mean specifically by "critical mass"?

  13. Mar 2023
    1. What type of note did Niklas Luhmann average 6 times a day? .t3_11z08fq._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #989898; }

      reply to u/dotphrasealpha at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/11z08fq/what_type_of_note_did_niklas_luhmann_average_6/

      The true insight you're looking for here is: Forget the numbers and just aim for quality followed very closely by consistency!

      Of course most will ignore my insight and experience and be more interested in the numbers, so let's query a the 30+ notes I've got on this topic in my own zettelkasten to answer the distal question.

      Over the 45 years from 1952 to 1997 Luhmann produced approximately 90,000 slips which averages out to:

      • 45 years * 365 days/year = 16,425 days
      • 90,000 slips / 16,425 days = 5.47 slips per day

      In a video, Ahrens indicates that Luhmann didn't make notes on weekends, and if true, this would revise the count to 7.69 slips per day.

      260 working days a year (on average, not accounting for leap years or potential governmental holidays)

      • 45 years x 260 work days/year = 11,700 days
      • 90,000 slips / 11,700 days = 7.69 slips per day

      Compare these closer numbers to Ahrens' stated and often quoted 6 notes per day in How to Take Smart Notes.

      I've counted from the start of '52 through all of '97 to get 45 years, but the true amount of time was a bit shorter than this in reality, so the number of days should be slightly smaller.

      Keep in mind that Luhmann worked at this roughly full time for decades, so don't try to measure yourself against him. (He also published in a different era and broadly without the hurdle of peer review.) Again: Aim for quality over quantity! If it helps, S.D. Goitein created a zettelkasten of 27,000 notes which he used to publish almost a third more papers and books than Luhmann. Wittgenstein left far fewer notes and only published one book during his lifetime, but published a lot posthumously and was massively influential. Similarly Roland Barthes had only about 12,500 slips and loads of influential work.

      I keep notes on various historical practitioners' notes/day output over several decades using these sorts of practices. Most are in the 1-2 notes per day range. A sampling of them can be found here: https://boffosocko.com/2023/01/14/s-d-goiteins-card-index-or-zettelkasten/#Notes%20per%20day.

      Anecdotally, I've found that most of the more serious people here and on the zettelkasten.de forum are in the 4-10 slips per week range.

      <whisper>quality...</whisper>

    1. Übersicht über die Auszüge des Zettelkastens Der Zettelkasten Niklas Luhmanns besteht aus insgesamt 27 Auszügen mit jeweils 2500 bis 3500 Zetteln. Diese verteilen sich auf zwei getrennte Zettelsammlungen: Zettelkasten I: 7 Auszüge mit Notizen aus dem Zeitraum von ca. 1952 bis 1961, insgesamt ca. 23.000 Zettel Zettelkasten II: 20 Auszüge mit Notizen aus dem Zeitraum von 1961 bis Anfang 1997, insgesamt ca. 67.000 Zettel. In den Auszügen 15-17 des ZK II, die Teil des hölzernen Zettelkastens sind, sowie den Auszügen 18-20, die außerhalb dieses Kastens in einzelnen Schubern gelagert waren, befinden sich die bibliographischen Abteilungen des ZK II. Teil des Auszugs 17 sind zudem mehrere Schlagwortregister und ein Personenregister des ZK II sowie einige weitere Spezialabteilungen, außerdem das Schlagwortregister sowie die bibliographische Abteilung und eine Themenübersicht des ZK I.

      Niklas Luhmann's zettelkasten consists of a total of 27 sections/drawers each containing from 2,500 to 3,500 slips.

      • ZK1 comprises 7 sections with about 23,000 notes written from about 1952 to 1961
      • ZKII comprises 20 sections with approximately 67,000 slips written between 1961 to early 1997.

      Sections 15, 16, 17 were part of the beechwood zettelkasten and along with sections 18, 19, and 20 which were stored outside of the main boxes in individual slipcases contain the bibliographic portions of ZKII

      Part of section 17 contains some of the index as well as an index of people for ZKII in addition to some other special portions along with the index of keywords, bibliographical slips, and an overview of topics from ZKI.

      The primary wooden boxes frequently pictured as "Luhmann's zettelkasten" is comprised of six wooden four-drawer card index filing cabinets which were supplemented by three individual slipcases.


      One would suspect the individual slipcases were like the one pictured on his desk here: Luhmann zuhause am Zettelkasten (vermutlich Ende der 1970er/Anfang 1980er Jahre)<br /> Copyright Michael Wiegert-Wegener<br /> via Niklas Luhmann Online: die Erschließung seines Nachlasses - Geistes- & Sozialwissenschaften

      The Luhmann archive has a photo of the beechwood portion with 24 drawers and one of the additional slipboxes on top of it:

      (via https://niklas-luhmann-archiv.de/nachlass/zettelkasten)

      Most of the photos from the museum exhibition and elsewhere only focus on or include the main wooden portion of six cabinets with the 24 drawers.


      See also: https://niklas-luhmann-archiv.de/nachlass/zettelkasten

      Over the 45 years from 1952 to 1997 this production of approximately 90,000 slips averages out to

      45 years * 365 days/year = 16,425 days 90,000 slips / 16,425 days = 5.47 slips per day.

      260 working days a year (on average, not accounting for leap years or potential governmental holidays) 45 years x 260 work days/year = 11,700 90,000 slips / 11,700 days = 7.69 slips per day

      In a video, Ahrens indicates that Luhmann didn't make notes on weekends, and if true this would revise the count to 7.69 slips per day.

      Compare these closer numbers to Ahrens' stated 6 notes per day in How to Take Smart Notes. <br /> See: https://hypothes.is/a/iwrV8hkwEe2vMSdjnwKHXw

      I've counted from the start of '52 through all of '97 to get 45 years, but the true amount of time was a bit shorter than this in reality, so the number of days should be slightly smaller.

    1. partir de 78 79 mais plutôt 79 et 81 donc dans les derniers dans les deux dernières années de sa vie l'avant veille de son accident l'a dit les prises de notes sont alors beaucoup moins espacées dans le temps et bar peut écrire jusqu'à une quinzaine de fiches par jour voire plus on voit ici sur ce diagramme l'année 1979 avec véritablement un bon mois à l'été 79 ou [00:29:35]

      In 1978/79 Roland Barthes was making up to 15 cards per day. ᔥ

    2. Histogram of Roland Barthes fiches between 1968 and 1980 from [29:28]

  14. Feb 2023
    1. Am I taking too long to finish notes? .t3_11bxjms._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #989898; }

      reply to u/m_t_rv_s__n at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/11bxjms/am_i_taking_too_long_to_finish_notes/

      Some of it depends on what you're reading for and what you're trying to get out of the reading. On a recent 26 page journal article, I spent several hours over a couple of days (months apart) reading and taking notes in a relatively thorough fashion. I spent another hour or so refining them further and filing them and another 15 minutes noting out references for follow up. It was in an area I'm generally very familiar with, so it wasn't difficult or dense, but has lots of material I specifically know I'll be using in the near future for some very specific writing. Because I know it's something of specific interest to me and several overlapping projects, I had a much deeper "conversation with the text" than I otherwise might have.

      Because it was done digitally, you can see the actual highlights and annotations and even check the timestamps if you like (you'll have to click through individual notes to get these timestamps): https://hypothes.is/users/chrisaldrich?q=url%3Aurn%3Ax-pdf%3A6053dd751da0fa870cad9a71a28882ba Some of it is basic data I'll use for a variety of purposes on several already well-defined projects. A few are for more slowly developing projects further out on the horizon. It's relatively easy to see the 10 or 15 permanent notes that I'll pull out of this group of about 74 notes. Since writing them, I've already referenced two of the more fleeting notes/highlights by searching for related tags on other reading which look like they may actually develop further.

      Had this been something less targeted to my specific area, say for a master's level course of general interest, I'd probably have spent far less time on it and likely not gone over about 15 or so notes. Sometimes for these, I'll just read the abstract and conclusions and scan the references. Reading lots of these in your area of interest gives you some idea of the space and types of questions you might be asking. As you hone in on a thesis, you'll begin asking more and more questions and delve more deeply into material, and if something you read in the past becomes more specific to your project then you'll likely go back to re-read it at a deeper level, but you'll still have your prior work at your fingertips as a potential guide.

      Once you know what your particular thesis is going to be your reading becomes more dense and targeted. Some things you'll read several times and go through with fine-toothed combs while others you'll skim to get the gist/context and only excerpt small specific pieces which you need and then move on.

      (If you need it, remember that you only need one or two good permanent notes per day to make some serious progress.)

    1. if you break it down it's just six notes a day 00:11:11 and that doesn't include Saturdays and Sundays

      Ahrens' 6 notes per day calculation doesn't include Saturdays or Sundays

    1. in 1917 he celebrated his fifty-thousandth card with an article titled ‘Siyum’, referencing the celebration upon conclud-ing study of a tractate of Talmud (Deutsch, 1917b).

      Did he write about his zettelkasten in this article?! Deutsch, G. (1917b) ‘Siyum’, American Israelite, 8 March, 15 March.


      Gotthard Deutsch celebrated his fifty thousandth card in 1917. ᔥ

    1. How long do you spend in a single note-taking session? .t3_112k929._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #989898; } questionBasically, just curious how much time people spend writing down notes in a typical session, as well as how many notecards you usually finish. If you can give me an idea of how long a single lit/permanent note takes you to write, even better

      reply to u/m_t_rv_s__n at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/112k929/how_long_do_you_spend_in_a_single_notetaking/

      Quite often my sessions can be in small 5-10 minute blocks doing one or more individual tasks that compose reading, writing, or filing/linking things together. Usually I don't go over a couple of hours without at least a small break or two.

      Like Luhmann “I only do what is easy. I only write when I immediately know how to do it. If I falter for a moment, I put the matter aside and do something else.” Incidentally by "easy" here, I think Luhmann also includes the ideas of fun, interesting, pleasurable, and (Csikszentmihalyi's) flow.

      For my lowest level reading I'll only quickly log what I've read along with a few index terms and a short note or two, if at all. For deeper analytical reading (as defined by Adler & van Doren) those sessions are more intense and I aim to have a direct "conversation with the text". Notes made there can sometimes be 2 - 10 minutes in length. I can often average about 50 annotations in a given day of which maybe 2 or 3 will be longer, fileable zettels. Most of my notes start as digital public annotations which one can view at https://hypothes.is/users/chrisaldrich if they like. On the topic of notes per day, I have a collection for that, some of which is given as a synopsis with some caveats here: https://boffosocko.com/2023/01/14/s-d-goiteins-card-index-or-zettelkasten/#Notes%20per%20day%20comparison.

    1. I started analog 08/09, went digital 09/10, went software-agnostic 11. All dates within 6month margin of error.
    2. Current count: 12.258

      https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/wjzjaz/comment/ik7k2q6/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      u/FastSascha reported 12,258 notes ("cards" on 2022-08-13), which presuming a start around 2013 (the beginning of zettelkasten.de) gives him 3.73 notes per day.

      Update:<br /> Sascha reports starting analog notes around 08/09 then he went digital 09/10, and software-agnostic in 11.

      This gives him 12,258 notes over 14 years (5,110 days) or 2.4 notes per day.

  15. Jan 2023
    1. I accumulated altogether between 5.000 and 6.000 note cards from 1974 to 1985, most of which I still keep for sentimental reasons and sometimes actually still consult.

      Manfred Kuehn's index card commonplace from 1974 - 1985


      At 5 - 6,000 cards in 11 years from 1974 to 1985, Kuehn would have made somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.25 - 1.49 note per day.

    1. Sonia Sotomayor asked herself what new thing did she learn at the end of every day. If she couldn't think of something then she remedied the issue by reading something. (Meltzer2018)

      While it's not known if she wrote notes about what she learned, doing so may have allowed her to accumulate a heck of a zettelkasten practice. Many people mistakenly think that they need to be creating dozens of perfect permanent notes for their zettelkasten every day, but in reality, most historical practitioners only made one or two each day. It's the accumulation and links between them that turn them into a more valuable collection over time.


      Meltzer, Brad. I Am Sonia Sotomayor. Illustrated edition. New York: Dial Books, 2018.

    1. Results for the YouTube field experiment (study 7), showing the average percent increase in manipulation techniques recognized in the experimental (as compared to control) condition. Results are shown separately for items (headlines) 1 to 3 for the emotional language and false dichotomies videos, as well as the average scores for each video and the overall average across all six items. See Materials and Methods for the exact wording of each item (headline). Error bars show 95% confidence intervals.

  16. Dec 2022
    1. Goitein accumulated more than 27,000 index cards in his research work over the span of 35 years. (Approximately 2.1 cards per day.)

      His collection can broadly be broken up into two broad categories: 1. Approximately 20,000 cards are notes covering individual topics generally making of the form of a commonplace book using index cards rather than books or notebooks. 2. Over 7,000 cards which contain descriptions of a single fragment from the Cairo Geniza.

      A large number of cards in the commonplace book section were used in the production of his magnum opus, a six volume series about aspects of Jewish life in the Middle Ages, which were published as A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza (1967–1993).

    1. Today my Zettelkasten is 8 month old. When I started note-taking in March 2022, I didn‘t expect a number of nearly 1000 notes in such a short time.

      https://hessen.social/@groepl/109456367157130265

  17. Oct 2022
    1. Blumenberg's Zettelkasten - 30,000 entries in 55 years, i.e. almost 550 per year, which is not that much - obviously served the material management for books that he had planned and the collection of documents for theses that he had in mind, without that the reading work for it was completed.

      Blumenberg's Zettelkasten had 30,000 notes which he collected over 55 years averages out to 545 notes per year or roughly (presuming he worked every day) 1.5 notes per day.

    1. If in 1908 itcontained 10,000 cards, by 1917 it had ballooned in size to 50,000 items, reaching60,000 in 1919 and nearly 70,000 at the time of Deutsch’s death in 1921 (Deutsch,1908b, 1917b; Brown, 1919: 69). It seems that Deutsch consistently produced 5,000cards per year (about 20 per workday) for the final 13 years of his life.

      Look up these references to confirm scope of numbers.

    1. Writing4ever_3

      Even if your raw typing is 60+ wpm, it doesn't help if you're actively composing at the same time. If the words and ideas come to you at that speed and you can get it out, great, but otherwise focus on what you can do in 15 minute increments to get the ideas onto the page. If typing is holding you back, write by hand or try a tape recorder or voice to text software.

  18. Aug 2022
    1. “500 and 1000 cards” is a long way before perceiving some benefit. Maybe this is necessary because “mine is more textual and less visual than his [Michalsky’s]”. For me, benefit is visible after approx. 40 new notes, dropped on the canvas of my tool, rearranged and connected.

      Thanks for this additional piece of Data Matthias! I have a feeling that some of the benefit will also come down to the level of quality of the notes and how well interlinked they may be. Those doing massive dumps of raw, unelaborated, and unlinked data using services like Readwise into their collections will certainly take longer than those who have more refined ideas well linked. My number is presuming something closer to the former while something along the lines of a tenth of that (an order of magnitude) would seem to fall in line with my current working model. It would be nice to have a larger body of data to work with though.

      syndication link

    2. https://boffosocko.com/2022/07/03/55806862/

      https://hypothes.is/users/chrisaldrich<br /> Joined: January 18, 2012<br /> First annotation: 2018-11-29

      Annotations: 10,099 (public and private as of 2022-07-03)

      Date of publication: 2022-07-03<br /> Duration: 3 years, 6 months, 5 days or 1312 days<br /> Average of: ~10099/1,312 = 7.69 annotations per day

      compare: https://hypothes.is/a/26pRxBpQEe2VXK8kiyXtKQ

      I suspect that earlier years were more sparse with higher number of fleeting notes. The past year or two output and quality increased dramatically with more valuable literature notes and more actual near-permanent or actual permanent notes.

    1. https://web.hypothes.is/blog/100000-annotations/

      https://hypothes.is/users/heatherstaines<br /> Joined: November 11, 2016<br /> Annotations: 1,063 (public as of 2022-08-12)

      Date of publication: 2020-02-07<br /> Duration: 3 yr 3 mo or 1,183 days<br /> Average of: ~100,000/1,183 = 84.53 annotations per day

      These would be closer to the idea of fleeting notes per day and not a more zettelkasten-like permanent note. It does provide at least a magnitude of order level of measurement on practice however.

      Note that it's possible that as a part of the company she has multiple accounts including one with an earlier born by date which would tend to dilute the average.

      The publication is dated 2020-02-07 (which matches publication meta data) and somehow Heather makes an annotation on the post itself (dated 2020-02-02) saying she's already at 105,000 annotations. This could have given a smaller window on a few week's worth of annotations, except for the improbably mismatch in dates.

    1. How many cards (both analog and digital) have you created yet? .t3_wjzjaz._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #989898; } question.71 votes2129.6%0=zero, I haven't started yet but I'm interested to learn4462.0%1..1000, some cards, I take it easy57.0%1k..10k, I like to imitate Roland Barthes with 12k cards11.4%10k..100k, my idol is Niklas Luhmann with 90k cards

      I'm curious who are the 6 that have been at this and honestly have over 10,000 cards? What timeframe did it take you to produce them? Roland Barthes worked for 37 years to produce his ~12,000.

    1. I'm working on my zettelkasten—creating literature notes and permanent notes—for 90 min a day from Monday to Friday but I struggle with my permanent note output. Namely, I manage to complete no more than 3-4 permanent notes per week. By complete I mean notes that are atomic (limited to 1 idea), autonomous (make sense on their own), connected (link to at least 3 other notes), and brief (no more than 300 words).That said, I have two questions:How many permanent notes do you complete per week on average?What are your tips to increase your output?

      reply to: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/wjigq6/how_do_you_increase_your_permanent_note_output

      In addition to all the other good advice from others, it might be worth taking a look at others' production and output from a historical perspective. Luhmann working at his project full time managed to average about 6 cards a day.1 Roland Barthes who had a similar practice for 37 years averaged about 1.3 cards a day.2 Tiago Forte has self-reported that he makes two notes a day, though obviously his isn't the same sort of practice nor has he done it consistently for as long.3 As you request, it would be useful to have some better data about the output of people with long term, consistent use.

      Given even these few, but reasonably solid, data points at just 90 minutes a day, one might think you're maybe too "productive"! I suspect that unless one is an academic working at something consistently nearly full time, most are more likely to be in the 1-3 notes a day average output at best. On a per hour basis Luhmann was close to 0.75 cards while you're at 0.53 cards. Knowing this, perhaps the best advice is to slow down a bit and focus on quality over quantity. This combined with continued consistency will probably serve your enterprise much better in the long run than in focusing on card per hour or card per day productivity.

      Internal idea generation/creation productivity will naturally compound over time as your collection grows and you continue to work with it. This may be a better sort of productivity to focus on in the long term compared with short term raw inputs.

      Another useful tidbit that some neglect is the level of quality and diversity of the reading (or other) inputs you're using. The better the journal articles and books you're reading, the more value and insight you're likely to find and generate more quickly over time.

    1. Luhmann’s slip-box contains about 90,000 notes, which sounds like an incrediblylarge number. But it only means that he wrote six notes a day fromthe day he started to work with his slip-box until he died.

      Should check the dates of start and finish and do the direct math myself, but ostensibly Luhmann averaged six notes a day for the duration of keeping his zettelkasten.

    1. I also mentioned Zettelkasten many times in this post, but I don’t do that anymore—I just did a 1-month dry run and it felt tiring. Pen and paper just gives me the bare essentials. I can get straight to work and not worry if something is a literature note or a permanent note.

      What is it that was tiring about the practice? Did they do it properly, or was the focus placed on tremendous output driving the feeling of a need for commensurate tremendous input on a daily basis? Most lifetime productive users only made a few cards a day, but I get the feeling that many who start, think they should be creating 20 cards a day and that is definitely a road to burn out. This feeling is compounded by digital tools that make it easier to quickly capture ideas by quoting or cut and pasting, but which don't really facilitate the ownership of ideas (internalization) by the note taker. The work of writing helps to facilitate this. Apparently the framing of literature note vs. permanent note also was a hurdle in the collection of ideas moving toward the filtering down and refining of one's ideas. These naming ideas seem to be a general hurdle for many people, particularly if they're working without particular goals in mind.

      Only practicing zettelkasten for a month is certainly no way to build real insight or to truly begin developing anything useful. Even at two cards a day and a minimum of 500-1000 total cards to see some serendipity and creativity emerge, one would need to be practicing for just over a year to begin seeing interesting results.

  19. Jul 2022
    1. Over the course of his intellectual life, from about 1943 until hissudden death in 1980, Barthes built a card index consisting of morethan 12,250 note cards – the full extent of this collection was notknown until access to it was granted to the manuscript researchers ofthe Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine (IMEC) inFrance (Krapp, 2006: 363).3

      Roland Barthes accumulated a card index of more than 12,250 note cards beginning in 1943 which were held after his death in 1980 at the Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine (IMEC) in France.

      Barthes' dates 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980 age 64

      He started his card index at roughly age 28 and at around the same time which he began producing written work. (Did he have any significant writing work or publications prior to this?)

      His card collection spanned about 37 years and at 12,250 cards means that was producing on average 0.907 cards per day. If we don't include weekends, then he produced 1.27 cards per day on average. Compare this with Ahrens' estimate of 6 cards a day for Niklas Luhmann.


      With this note I'm starting the use of a subject heading (in English) of "card index" as a generic collection of notes which are often kept in one or more boxes. This is to distinguish it from the more modern idea of zettelkasten in the Luhmann framing which also connotes a dense set of links between the cards themselves, though this may not have been the case historically. Card index is also specifically separate from 'index card' which is an individual instance of an item that might be found in a card index. At present, I'm unaware of a specific word in English which defines the broader note taking context or portions thereof relating to index cards in the same way that a zettelkasten implies. This may be the result of the broad use of index cards for so many varying uses in the early 20th century. For these other varying uses I'll try to differentiate them henceforth with the generic 'index card files' which might also be used to describe the containers in which cards might be found.

    1. I tried using Roam for about two weeks once. I used Roam and only Roam, diligently. After only two weeks, my knowledge graph was utterly unintelligible and distressing.

      While one can take a lot of notes in two weeks, even just six quality notes a day (Niklas Lumann's pace was six per day while Roland Barthes was closer to 1 and change per day) only provides about 84 cards or zettels. This isn't enough to make anything distressing or unintelligible. It's also incredibly far short of creating any useful links to create anything. He should have trimmed things down and continued for about 24 weeks to see any significant results. (Of course this also begs the question: what was his purpose in pursuing such a system in the first place?)

    1. The presenter in the video has 70 notes across 3 months which is drastically lower than what I have.

      Somewhere I think I read that Luhmann only added about 6 cards a day to his zettelkasten. (I suspect they averaged his 90K output over the span of years he said he used it....)

      My fleeting note output right now is potentially too much, and I certainly should be spending more time refining and building on my (note-based) thoughts.

      It's not how many thoughts one has, but their quality and even more importantly, what one does with them.

      https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/jho1em/i_found_a_gem/

    1. I have compiled, at latest reckoning, 35,669 posts - my version of a Zettelkasten.

      Stephen, to get a general grip on note taking practices, I've been collecting rough numbers of notes per day over spans of time from people. You mention 35,669 posts here. Over what span of time (years/days) does that currently represent?

    1. Documentazione

      Il problema di questa sezione è derubricare i modelli dati come documentazione. Le ontologie di ontopia (parlo di modelli non tanto di dati come i vocabolari controllati) sono machine-readable. Quindi non è solo una questione di documentare la sintassi o il contenuto del dato. È rendere il modello actionable, ossia leggibile e interpretabile dalle macchine stesse. Io potrei benissimo documentare dei dataset con una bella tabellina in Github o con tante tabelline in un bellissimo PDF (documentazione), ma non è la stessa cosa di rendere disponibile un'ontologia per dei dati. Rendere i modelli parte attiva della gestione del dato (come per le ontologie) significa abilitare l'inferenza che avete richiamato sopra in maniera impropria per me, ma anche utilizzarli per explainable AI e tanti altri usi. Questo è un concetto fondamentale che non può essere trattato così in linee guida nazionali. Dovrebbe anzi avere un capitolo suo dedicato, vista l'importanza anche in ottica data quality "compliance" caratteristica di qualità dello standard ISO/IEC 25012.

    2. Nel caso a), il soggetto ha tutti gli elementi per rappresentare il proprio modello dati; viceversa, nei casi b) e c), la stessa amministrazione, in accordo con AgID, valuta l’opportunità di estendere il modello dati a livello nazionale.

      Tutta la parte di modellazione dati, anche attraverso il catalogo nazionale delle ontologie e vocabolari controllati, sembra ora in mano a ISTAT, titolare, insieme al Dipartimento di Trasformazione Digitale di schema.gov.it. Qui però sembra AGID abbia il ruolo di definire i vari modelli. Secondo me questo crea confusione. bisognerebbe coordinarsi anche con le altre amministrazioni per capire bene chi fa cosa. AGID al momento di OntoPiA gestisce solo un'infrastruttura fisica.

  20. Jun 2022
    1. Le intestazioni di colonna devono essere auto-esplicative ed essere incluse nella prima riga del file CSV. Senza le intestazioni, è difficile per gli utenti interpretare il significato dei dati.

      Proprio a integrazione del commento di @aborusso direi che le intestazioni dovrebbero seguire le etichette dei concetti definiti nelle principali ontologie italiane di OntoPiA qualora il dato fosse già modellato. Esempio: "indirizzo completo" (proprietà full address dell'ontologia CLV-AP_IT) per indicare l'indirizzo completo presente in tantissimi dataset (aperti).

    1. On average I capture just twonotes per day

      Tiago Forte self-reports that he captures two notes a day.


      Link to other's notes per day including Barthes, Luhmann, et al.

  21. Feb 2022
  22. Oct 2021
  23. bafybeiery76ov25qa7hpadaiziuwhebaefhpxzzx6t6rchn7b37krzgroi.ipfs.dweb.link bafybeiery76ov25qa7hpadaiziuwhebaefhpxzzx6t6rchn7b37krzgroi.ipfs.dweb.link
    1. 10% per annum

      Anderson has contextualized the scale of such an impact in his other presentations but not here. A recent example is the temporary emission decreases due to covid 19. A 6.6% global decrease was determined from this study: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3#:~:text=After%20rising%20steadily%20for%20decades,on%20daily%20fossil%20fuel%20emissions. with the US contributing 13% due to lockdown impacts on vehicular travel (both air and ground). After the pandemic ends, experts expect a strong rebound effect.

  24. Sep 2021
  25. Aug 2021
  26. Mar 2021
    1. Tim Colbourn. ‘7-Day Moving Average for #CovidUK Deaths Is Now 200 Deaths per Day. That’s 1400 Deaths in the Last Week. In Sep When CSA Vallance Said We Need to Stop Increase to Avoid “200 Deaths per Day in Nov” Many Doubted/Mocked Him as a “Scaremonger”. Deaths Still Rising & Not in Nov Yet..’ Tweet. @timcolbourn (blog), 28 October 2020. https://twitter.com/timcolbourn/status/1321231842121494530.

  27. Feb 2021
    1. Bulletin, the Swedish site, acts as news but behaves as though neoliberal thought in the USA were news in the 1980s.

    2. Under rubriken ”Hemköp brukade inte behöva vakter i dörren” skriver Gudmundson om ett gathörn i Vasastan i Stockholm. Det har med hans ord blivit en uppsamlingsplats. Beskrivna med Gudmundsons ord är det inte människor som samlas där. Det är schabloner. ”Kvinnor i stora kjolar, koftor, badrockar och tofflor”. ”Männen med midjekort jacka, säckiga byxor och toppluva”. Gudmundson ångar på. Han skriver att invånarna i en miljonstad vanligtvis är toleranta inför avvikande beteenden i gatubilden, men det här hade ingen tänkt sig. Nej, den övre medelklassen hade kanske inte tänkt sig behöva se fattigdomen rakt utanför fönstret när de tagit mångmiljonlån för en bostadsrätt i innerstan. Ändå finns den där. Som intäkt för att det är något skumt som pågår återger Gudmundson reaktioner i lokala Facebook-grupper där ”missnöjet jäser”. Det skrivs om att det ”urineras utanför porten”. Att ”det är satt i system att peta på maten” på Hemköp för att få den. Kommentarerna i Facebook-tråden måste stängas eftersom de blir för hätska. Det spårar ur, men Gudmundson fångar upp dem som underlag som för att driva tesen vidare att det finns ett samband mellan tiggeri och brottslighet. Och att härbärgen och soppkök används som bas för att organisera den påstådda brottsligheten.
    1. Although one thing you want to avoid is using frames in such a manner that the content of the site is in the frame and a menu is outside of the frame. Although this may seem convienient, all of your pages become unbookmarkable.
    1. Iframes can have similar issues as frames and inconsiderate use of XMLHttpRequest: They break the one-document-per-URL paradigm, which is essential for the proper functioning of the web (think bookmarks, deep-links, search engines, ...).
    2. The most striking such issue is probably that of deep linking: It's true that iframes suffer from this to a lesser extent than frames, but if you allow your users to navigate between different pages in the iframe, it will be a problem.
  28. Oct 2020
  29. Jul 2020
  30. Jun 2020
  31. Feb 2020
    1. Send one email per subject as multiple items in one email will cause delays (have to respond to everything) or misses (forgot one of the items).
  32. Dec 2019
  33. Sep 2019
  34. Aug 2018
  35. Apr 2018
    1. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature hath placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other men: for this labour being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good, left in common for others.

      Useful passage to point out the tension between "Civic virtue and the responsibility to the greater good (see end of passage) vs. individual property rights. Useful to frame discussions re: natural parks, utilitarian vs. preservationist perspectives on environmental policies, taxation policies & burdens, entitlements etc etc.

    1. Lastly, Those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the Being of a God. Promises, Covenants, and Oaths, which are the Bonds of Humane [53] Society, can have no hold upon an Atheist.138 The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all. Besides also, those that by their Atheism undermine and destroy all Religion, can have no pretence of Religion whereupon to challenge the Privilege of a Toleration. As for other Practical Opinions, though not absolutely free from all Error, yet if they do not tend to establish Domination over others, or Civil Impunity to the Church in which they are taught, there can be no Reason why they should not be tolerated.
  36. Oct 2015
    1. Le repérage des axes de symétrie d'une figure et la construction de l'image d'une figure par une symétrie axiale peuvent poser problème lorsque l'axe de symétrie n'est pas parallèle aux bords de la feuille ou qu'il a des points communs avec la figureVeiller donc à varier la direction des axes de symétrie

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    1. Se représenter, problématiser et modéliser des situations et résoudre des problèmes en construisant et en mobilisant des notions, des concepts, des démarches et des raisonne-ments propres aux Mathématiques et aux Sciences de la nature dans les champs des phénomènes naturels et tech-niques, du vivant et de l’environnement, ainsi que des nombres et de l’espace.
  37. Jan 2014
    1. The opinion will also typically give the name of the judge or justice who wrote it. In some cases, judges sitting together will decide not to reveal wh o wrote an opinion. In that situation, it will say p e r c u r i a m /DWLQIRU³E\WKHFRXUW ́ ) i QSODFHRIDMXGJH¶VQDPH

      The garbled text quoted here should be:

      it will say per curiam (Latin for "by the court") in place of a judge's name.