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Melvil Dewey: A Biography
Born in New York, USA on December 10, 1851, Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey later shortened his first name to Melvil and changed the spelling of his family name to Dui.
Dewey was from a poor family
and worked as a student assistant in a college library to help
pay for his education. It was while here, aged 21, that he invented
the system that is now used to classify books and other items
including internet resources, in libraries around the world. Known
as the Dewey Decimal Classification system it organises
information into 10 main subject areas. The system changed the
way libraries organised their books and other items. Librarianship
became a respected profession.
Before Dewey's system became widely used, each library had its
own way of organising items and often it was the librarian only
who knew where each item was shelved. This made it difficult for
people to find things in libraries.
Dewey helped establish the American Library Association (ALA) in 1876 and was the secretary of ALA and later its president. He edited a library journal that helped to promote library standards and a company that he formed sold library supplies.
In 1883, Dewey became the librarian of Columbia University in New York City. He founded the first ever library school at the university on January 1, 1887.
Dewey suffered a stroke and died in Florida, USA, on December 26, 1931.
Photograph of Melvil Dewey "Used by permission of The Book & The Computer Online Journal."
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acknowledge where you find information
If you use any of the information on this page acknowledge this
source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas & Sydenham, 2003, Melvil Dewey: a bigraphy [Online],
Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
updated march 2006