The library catalogue
Text: an original contemporary report-style practice extract.
The archive introduced a searchable catalogue so that visitors could find items without handling every box. Each entry included a brief description and a shelf reference. Images of the documents were not yet available online. Researchers still needed an appointment to see the originals. The archivist warned that searching one spelling could miss a surname recorded differently in an old file. Staff kept the handwritten index beside the new computer, since it contained several notes that had not yet been transferred.
From the extract, identify one thing visitors still needed before seeing the original documents.