Order (October)

“The idea of order…” the famous poem title runs, it may be posed, to “the palm at the end of the mind.” The idea of order is subject of and guides more writing than is dreamt of in your philosophy. This October the bibliographical behemoth OCLC prints its last batches of library catalogue cards, ending one agreed idea of order that served well the author-title-series-subject expectations of generations of searchers; an idea borne of the book, like its subtle successor, the keyword database. Our digits delve into digital, yet some certainties persist: alphabets, numbers, time limits, human aptitude, lack thereof.