English: This is "library hand", the strange way librarians had of writing cursive which slants backwards.

The University of Michigan Library catalog had the "first card written west of Cambridge" according to this recollection of it by William Warner Bishop, who would later become the UM Library Director:

"I well remember my first encounter with a card catalog," said William Warner Bishop, Superintendent of the Library of Congress Reading Room, in a paper read at the Minnetonka conference of the American Library Association. "It was at the University of Michigan, and too long ago for me to count the years with comfort, and too few with pride. I had haunted the Detroit Public Library for years, and knew every nook and corner of it—but I had never seen, much less used, a card catalog. I went into the University Library in the evening to pass a couple of hours. I wanted a book—any book—and I was coldly referred to a case of double-tray drawers where little cards were arranged—by authors. I remember to this day turning those cards. Being a methodical soul, even then, I had begun with A, and Aristotle was the first author I happened on. Do you wonder that I turned away from that oak case in which the first card written west of Cambridge was even then said to repose, and went out of that library utterly discouraged ? There were no open shelves then, save for a few dictionaries, etc., and no reference librarian and the "student assistant" on duty that night saw in me only a freshman who wanted to idle away time. I submit there was room for assistance in this case. The book-worm in me couldn't be downed even by Aristotle, and yet I remember many a time after that, when I had become thoroughly familiar with the use of the catalog, turning over the author cards at random to find something to read when I was tired or had an hour to spare. A selection of good literature on open shelves is an assistance to readers at a formative period which no university or college library can afford to forego. The more books the student can see and handle the better. They are worth more than catalogs, bibliographies, yes—and the reference librarian."

Koch, Theodore Wesley. University of Michigan Library, 1905-1912. Ann Arbor: Priv. print. [by the Ann Arbor press], 1912.