February 6, 2023
source: hist1900 lecture 3

Description

The Dewey-Decimal system was a method of organizing libraries based on the continuous property of the real numbers, called the Dewey-Decimal system. The decimal system allowed new classifications to be inserted between others without having to rename the old ones.

Connections

• Dewey used this organizational system
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  to implement and spread his organizational system, which then affected the power of other groups being sorted in that system. For example, numbers 200-290 are dedicated to Christianity, while only 291-300 are used for all the other religions in the world.
• This is also a great showcase of how mediums can impact messages
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  ! Under Dewey, all books from black authors were placed under the 'Slavery' section and queer topics under 'Mental Illness'. This certainly affects how a reader will receive the information in the book.
• Dewey was a well-known racist and anti-semite even for his time, and faced several accusations of sexual harassment. This was reflected in how he used his power, as discussed above. However, there were no mentions of this history in class
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  .