bluesyemre

• When he developed his decimal system in the 1870s, Melvil Dewey was trying to bring the efficiency and allure of engineering to the emerging field of library science. At a moment when engineers were national heroes, nothing quite said reliable or important like decimals. It’s perhaps ironic, then, that the Dewey Decimal System is today not just a practical way to find books in most public libraries (but not most large research libraries, where the Library of Congress system holds sway). It’s also—and maybe more importantly—a symbol of the romance of libraries, not their efficiency.

Source: http://j.mp/13F02kT