True Life Tuesday: Melvil Dewey

The man behind the library classification system most of us know was a very complicated character. 

Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey was born on December 10, 1851 in Adams Center, New York. He was the 5th and last child of Joel and Eliza Greene Dewey. He decided at a young age that he wanted to reform education and make it more accessible to the masses. He briefly attended Alfred University and then transferred to Amherst College. He earned his Bachelors degree in 1874 and a Masters degree in 1877. While a student he founded the Library Bureau which sold equipment to libraries and eventually set the dimensions of card catalogs. He also advocated for spelling reform by removing redundant letters from words. This is when he changed the spelling of his name to Melvil. He also briefly changed the spelling of his last name to Dui.

He had a varied career in the library world. He was the chief librarian at Columbia University from 1883-1888. Then he was the director of the New York State Library from 1888-1906. While there he set up a program of traveling libraries that would go to areas without a library. He was also secretary and executive officer of the University of the State of New York from 1888-1900. In 1876 he helped to found the American Library Association. In 1883 he founded the School of Library Economy at Columbia University. This was the first institution to provide instruction to librarians. Against the wishes of the school's regents he insisted that women be admitted. After years of clashing with the board he convinced the school to allow him to move the school to the New York State Library in 1889. 

He first came up with his classification system while working at the Amherst College library after he earned his undergraduate degree. He first publicized and copyrighted the system in 1876. He cited the card system of Italian publisher Natale Battezzati as one of his inspirations. His system was also a new way to superimposed a system of decimal numbers first outlined by Sir Francis Bacon. 

In 1895 he founded the Lake Placid Club with his first wife, Anne. This was created as a health resort. He was also an advocate for winter sports in the area. He petitioned, along with his son Godfrey, for the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics. Unfortunately he would not see the games as he died from a stroke on December 26, 1931. He was inaugurated into the American Library Association's Hall of Fame in 1951.

Dewey left behind a troubled history. He committed sexual harassment against many women during his different positions. Eventually he had to step down from his position with the American Library Association due to allegations against him. He also wrote a policy that kept Jews, blacks and other groups from joining the Lake Placid Club. In June 2019 the American Library Association unanimously voted to remove his name from their highest honor due to his history of sexism, racism and antisemitism.