From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 23, 1988:

With a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Watson Library, Kansas University today unveiled the new online catalog system for all KU libraries. The system, which was to replace the old card-catalog system, was demonstrated by Del Brinkman, KU’s vice chancellor for academic affairs. Clinton Howard, KU assistant library dean for technical services, called the new technology a “revolution in access” for library users, explaining that the catalog of all books held in KU libraries was now available “anywhere anybody can get to a terminal on campus.” The system had a database of records for 420,000 books, or about 20 percent of the entire collection. The rest was to be converted from the existing index cards to the online system as funding permitted.