A special button transfers him immediately to the first page of the index. Any given book of his library can thus be called up and consulted with far greater facility than if it were taken from a shelf. As he has several projection positions, he can leave one item in position while he calls up another.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- An electronic library system allows instant access to specific pages via buttons. Users can manage multiple items simultaneously across different projection positions.
- In plain terms
- Electronic indexes let you call up books faster than shelves.
- What can you take from it?
- Use electronic retrieval to access information instantly.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you organize your data?
- What makes access fast?
Another view
Instant access requires robust infrastructure to avoid system failures.
More from Vannevar Bush
There is, of course, provision for consultation of the record by the usual scheme of indexing. If the user wishes to consult a certain book, he taps its code o…
Permalink to quote #32 All this is conventional, except for the projection forward of present-day mechanisms and gadgetry. It affords an immediate step, however, to associative index…
Permalink to quote #34 Most of the memex contents are purchased on microfilm ready for insertion. Books of all sorts, pictures, current periodicals, newspapers, are thus obtained and…
Permalink to quote #31
Related quotes
To be able to key one sheet of a million before an operator in a second or two, with the possibility of then adding notes thereto, is suggestive in many ways. …
Vannevar BushVannevar Bush quote #27 Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there …
Vannevar BushVannevar Bush quote #35 Differential equations won't help you much in the design of aeroplanes - not yet, anyhow.
Nevil ShuteNevil Shute quote #1