Biography Series-2: Melville Dewey

Melvil Dewey, Librarian

Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey was an American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, and a founder of the Lake Placid Club.

Born: December 10, 1851, Adams Centre, New York, United States

Died: December 26, 1931, Lake Placid, Florida, United States

Nationality: American

Education: Amherst College

Children: Godfrey Dewey

He helped establish the American Library Association (ALA) in 1876.

In 1876 he published A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloguing and Arranging Books and Pamphlets in a Library, better known as the "Dewey Decimal Classification”.

He was secretary of ALA from 1876 to 1890 and president during the 1890/1891 and 1892/1893 terms.

He co-founded and edited Library Journal

Dewey became the librarian of Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York City. While there,

He founded the first ever library school on January 1, 1887.

In December 1889, he became the director of the New York State Library at Albany, Retiring from that position in 1906.

Melvil Dewey well deserves the title of "father of modern librarianship".

Book selection principle emphasised by Dewey is

       “The best reading for the largest number at the least cost”

Reference: http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/biography.en.html

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1. Melville Dewey was a British librarian
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False
2. Melville Dewey helped to establish the American Library Association (ALA) in 1876
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False
3.Library Journal co-founded by M.Dewey
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False
4.M.Dewey founded the first ever library school on January 1, 1876
True
False
5. Melvil Dewey is father of librarianship in India
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False