Melvil Dewey

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Melvil Dewey

Melvil Dewey (born December 10, 1851 as Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey in Adams Center , New York ; † December 26, 1931 in Lake Placid , New York ) introduced the Dewey decimal classification named after him , a system for classifying literary works for libraries .

As a student at Amherst College , he developed the Dewey decimal classification. Together with his friend, the librarian Charles Cutter , he founded the American Library Association (ALA). Both men lectured at the first ALA conference in Boston in 1876 . Dewey was secretary of the ALA from 1876 to 1890 and then president until 1893.

He worked as a spelling reformer of the English language and is responsible, for example, for the American spelling Catalog (the British spelling remained with Catalog ). Dewey changed his own name from Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey to Melvil Dui for simplicity.

Dewey published the book A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloging and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library in 1876 . (Dewey Decimal Classification) .

In 1883 Dewey became a librarian at Columbia University in New York City , where he founded the first library school in 1887. He was also the co-founder, editor and author of the Library Journal , for which he wrote numerous articles. He also founded the "Library Bureau", a company for the marketing of library materials.

On December 26, 1931, he died of complications from a stroke . Dewey was inducted into the ALA's "Hall of Fame" due to his achievements in the standardization of the library system. He is also the namesake for Mount Dewey , a mountain in the Antarctic.

literature

  • Wayne A. Wiegand: Irrepressible Reformers. A Biography of Melvil Dewey. American Library Association, Chicago IL et al. 1996, ISBN 0-8389-0680-X .
  • Markus Krajewski: Paperwork. The birth of the card index from the spirit of the library . Kulturverlag Kadmos, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-931659-29-1 , p. 99-124 .
  • David Weinberger: The end of the drawer. The power of the new digital clutter . Carl Hanser, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-41221-7 , pp. 55-75 .

Web links

Commons : Melvil Dewey  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ E-Text ( Project Gutenberg ; English)
personal data
SURNAME Dewey, Melvil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dewey, Melville Louis Kossuth; Dui, Melvil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American librarian, introduced the Dewey Decimal Classification named after him
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Adams Center , New York
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 1931
Place of death Lake Placid (Florida)