Melvil Dewey

Melvil Dewey (1851–1931) was an American librarian and educator who devised the Dewey Decimal Classification. While a student and assistant librarian at Amherst College he developed a system that organized books by subject using decimal numbers, first published in 1876. That same year he helped found the American Library Association and the Library Journal. He later established the first school of library science at Columbia College and directed the New York State Library. He also campaigned for spelling reform and the metric system and founded the Lake Placid Club. Accusations of harassment and his exclusionary policies have since damaged his reputation.