The DukeCard system began in 1985, when students, faculty members, and other employees were issued IDs that included the person's photograph and name on the front and a magnetic stripe and bar code on the back. At that time, the card was used mostly for financial transactions, allowing students to open debit accounts and food plans with the university for purchases made at campus stores and the cafeterias. The bar code technology was designed for library use. The DukeCard allowed the university to eliminate all but one of the six cards that students were once required to carry with them. Students still needed to have a separate security card if they lived in one of the campus dorms. This changed in 1990, when the university purchased new software and card readers, allowing the school to add an access control function to the DukeCard. Each cardholder in the database is assigned a series of privileges that gives him/her access to dining and debit accounts, academic buildings, residence halls, recreational facilities, parking lots, vending machines, and student activities, such as voting and admission to athletic events. Within each of these privileges, cardholders have specific plans that designate where and when their cards can be used. When a cardholder passes his/her card through a reader, the system evaluates the privileges and plans in the cardholder's records and decides whether the person is authorized to make a specific transaction, whether it is a purchase at a vending machine or access to a building.