Degas Decimal System

Computerized library records may have rendered card catalogs obsolete, but librarians at the University of Iowa are trying to give their retired cards a second life. Through a new project, the university plans to send about a million of its old catalog cards to schoolchildren, writers, and artists in Iowa. The recipients will be asked to turn the cards into works of art and then send them back, so the library can turn its old files into a public art project.