Happy Birthday, Melvil!
December 10, 2012
Public librarians use Dr. Dewey’s classification many times during the day. It is one thing to know we have the book, but quite another to be able to find it. The Dewey Decimal System makes this much easier. His system is the one that most customers are familiar with, and it is used in over 200,000 libraries worldwide. Dewey published his system in 1876. It continues to remain up to date with the 23rd revision published in 2011. Dr. Dewey did the revisions himself while he was alive. They are now done by the Online Computer Library Center, which is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service. They also maintain WorldCat, the interlibrary loan service MCPL uses.
The Dewey system is one of several classification systems. Academic libraries tend to use the Library of Congress system because it allows for easier addition of new fields in science. Some very large collections use the Universal Decimal Classification, which allows for more precise cataloging. Both are looked upon as being more complex to use than the Dewey system.
Dr. Dewey made improving education his life’s work with three areas of particular interest to him. He wanted the adoption of the metric system and established the American Metric Bureau. He also wanted spelling reform, and even shortened his own name from Melville to Melvil, and founded the Spelling Reform Association. And, of course, he helped improve the library where he was one of the founders of the American Library Association, and he founded the Library Journal. He even supported physical education and was active in bringing the Winter Olympics to Lake Placid in 1932.
Born on December 10, 1851 and living a full life of 80 years, we appreciate the contributions of Melvil Louis Kossuth Dewey.
Darrell D.
North Oak Branch
Comments
Dr. Dewey
Thank you for your comments. As long as we have books on the shelves, we will need a system and as you mentioned, the Dewey Decimal System requires little need for assistance when used by patrons as well as staff so serves us well. Teachers never receive as much credit as they deserve, so I appreciate your recognizing Mrs. Pitts for her contribution to your learning. Darrell D.
Dr. Dewey's Work: Alive and Well!!!
This was a very informative and enjoyable article, and thanks to my grade school librarian in public school, I still use the Dewey Decimal System with little need for assistance. Now well into my 40s, I remember having "Library Skills" class in third and fourth grade with Mrs. Pitts. Learning the basics of how to get around a library still serves me well to this day.
Recently, I listened to a short segment about Dr. Dewey on NPR, and while that segment was interesting, I must say that this blog has information that is more relevant and detailed.
In your blog, you stated, "Dr. Dewey did the revisions himself while he was alive." Thanks to people like yourself, and others in the Mid-Continent Public Library system, you are keeping Dr. Dewey's work alive and well, with its intended goal of helping readers find the books they are searching for in an orderly, yet easy-to-use, manner.
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