1. card index - Noun
2. card index - Verb
an alphabetical listing of items (e.g., books in a library) with a separate card for each item
Source: WordNetcard-index
The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. Source: Internet
The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War (Zentralauskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene) had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. Source: Internet
The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923, each card representing an individual prisoner or missing person. Source: Internet