Back when every single item was meticulously cataloged on index cards (physically!), the issue of sloppy penmanship was not just annoying but debilitating to the profession. Enter Library Hand, the handwriting style initially promoted by Melvil Dewey (whose Dewey Decimal cataloging system is used to this day in libraries all over, including ours).
It’s a font which is designed to be reproducible and readable at speed, and while our card catalog is more of a statement piece on the main floor than a practical reference destination we have started introducing the digital version of the font to our website. Created by Margo Burns and distributed to the public domain, you can download and install a computerized version of this old style of writing HERE.
And if you want to learn more about the history of Library Hand, visit this article courtesy of Atlas Obscura.