Gen: When to toss the card catalog?

[Lynn Henry <LynnH123@AOL.COM>]

I know many of you had to make this decision a long time ago, but we're still
a library with a regular card catalog.  About four years ago I did enter the
shelf list on Mac Microsoft Works for my own work: preparing cards, labels,
etc.  I recently put this data base on an extra computer that made its way to
the library and the students have been using it instead of the old catalog
for doing simple searches (the students don't know how to set up complex
filters).

My question is:  how long should I keep the old catalog active?  After
spending almost three hours today discarding old entries and putting in new
cards, I was ready to put it all away and just depend on the computer?  We're
not in a financial position to go with complete automation probably for a
couple years yet, but I think my time is worth more doing something else
besides shuffling cards.

What did anyone else do when you were making that transition?  I've also
thought about putting the catalog away, but keeping the old shelf list cards
active for when the time comes to go to automation.

BTW -- Thanks for a resource that lets me know that many of the policies
we've set up in our own library are just about like everyone else's -- and
that I'm not just a crank!

Thanks!
Lynn Henry
Concordia Academy
Roseville, MN