I had to log in to the LA County library website to request a book this morning, and I remembered that they used to have a different URL long ago, so I decided to look on the Internet Archive and refresh my memory of it.
I do not remember their dial-in library catalog, but what trip.
Sep 8, 2026, 4:16 PM@MLE_online i would love to see this implemented over telnet
@nolan someone on this ridiculous social media network probably knows how to do that. Perhaps up to 10 percent of its users know how
Sep 8, 2026, 4:51 PM@MLE_online wow, I've worked there since 2008 and this definitely predates me and I've never seen it
@slirt That's from 1996!
Sep 8, 2026, 5:47 PM@MLE_online NYPL used to have a MOO
@kevinr whats a MOO?
Sep 9, 2026, 8:31 AM@MLE_online short for MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) Object Oriented apparently. A usually text based virtual world that was more focused on interaction and creation and less on combat than traditional MUDs. A forerunner of MMOs
@MLE_online @jessamyn this reminds me of the dumb terminals my local library had to do searches in the late 80’s to maybe mid 90’s, I’m not sure when they got installed, or removed.
@MLE_online the library I worked in in 1977-78 took out their whole damn card catalog and replaced it with a few computers, meaning they're fucked in power failures. We had an ice storm in early 1978 and library operations went on, at least during the day.
We had fireplaces!