The American Library Association says Melvil Dewey is canceled

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/09/30/the-american-library-associati.html

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Eventually, Dewey et al will be consigned to the 930 shelves.

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But do we stick with the Dewy Decimal System?

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More of a fan of the Library of Congress Classification System, myself. But apparently Herbert Putnam (who developed it) was also a difficult man to work for.

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Well, that certainly personalizes what may be the driest topic in modern history. Yikes.

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So the problem was mainly how he classified humans?

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Is it weird that I’m “impressed” that a board of regents censured him for racism and antisemitism before 1905?

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So what’s the new name for the Dewey Decimal System? I’ll bet it has more syllables. Just call it the ALA Catalogue.

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Try to claim this decision by “PC thugs” is “ruining your childhood”, right-wingers!

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Give it time.
By which I mean a couple of minutes.

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I once considered using the Dewey Decimal System to organize my home library, until I found out the dang thing was copyrighted. Funk that! LoC for me.

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Under the Dewey Decimal system all comic books are assigned the same number. He sucks and his system sucks.

Also I didn’t notice that John Struan was writing here, neat! His own blog is great. I have read it daily for over a decade.

http://www.superpunch.net

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And all computer technology is relegated to the 004s. How dare Dewey not anticipate the cultural and technological changes of the next century.

Dude had his problems, but his system isn’t that bad, and given the millions of items in libraries across the country which are not going to be recataloged just because he’s been ghosted, maybe just learn to live with it. We can rename it the plain Decimal System, if that makes you happier.

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How about renaming it to Douchebag Decimal System?

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Overdue.  

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Here’s a relevant episode from an awesome podcast.

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I can only imagine what you had to do to get nailed for sexual harrasment in the 30s.

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Try to nail the wrong man’s wife.

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Don’t tell Conan the Librarian.

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