Editing Dewey Decimal Classification (section)

===1873–1885: early development===

[[Melvil Dewey]] (1851–1931) was an American librarian and self-declared reformer.<ref>{{Citation
        |publisher = American Library Association
        |isbn = 978-0838906804
        |location = Chicago
        |title = Irrepressible reformer
        |last = Wiegand
        |first = Wayne A.
        |date = 1996
        |id = 083890680X
        |ol = 965418M
        |url-access = registration
        |url = https://archive.org/details/irrepressibleref00wayn
        }}</ref> He was a founding member of the [[American Library Association]] and can be credited with the promotion of [[Library catalog|card systems]] in libraries and business.<ref>{{Citation
        |publisher = MIT Press
        |location = Cambridge, Massachusetts
        |last=Krajewski
        |first=Markus
        |title = Paper machines
        |date = 2011
        |isbn = 9780262015899
        |ol = 25075524M
 }}</ref> He developed the ideas for his library classification system in 1873 while working at the [[Amherst College]] library. He applied the classification to the books in that library, until in 1876 he had a first version of the classification. In 1876, he published the classification in pamphlet form with the title ''A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloguing and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library.''<ref name="DDC1876">{{Citation
        |publisher = [s.n.]
        |title = A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloguing and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a ..
        |last = Dewey
        |first= Melvil
        |date = 1876
        |oclc = 78870163
        |ol = 23422140M
 }}
</ref>
He used the pamphlet, published in more than one version during the year, to solicit comments from other librarians. It is not known who received copies or how many commented as only one copy with comments has survived, that of [[Ernest Cushing Richardson]].<ref>
{{Citation        |publisher = Forest Press Division, Lake Placid Education Foundation        |isbn = 978-0-910608-17-6        |location = Albany, N.Y        |title = The eighteen editions of the Dewey Decimal Classification   |page = 43     |first=John P.   |last= Comaromi        |date = 1976 |ol = 4881898M }}
</ref> His classification system was mentioned in an article in the first issue of the ''[[Library Journal]]'' and in an article by Dewey in the Department of Education publication ''Public Libraries in America'' in 1876.<ref>{{Citation    |publisher = Govt. Print. Off.    |location = Washington    |author = United States. Bureau of Education.    |title = Public libraries in the United States of America|pages=623–648    |date = 1876  |ol = 15138665M }}
</ref> In March 1876, he applied for, and received, copyright on the first edition of the index.<ref>{{harvp|Comaromi|1976|p= 88}}</ref> The edition was 44 pages in length, with 2,000 index entries, and was printed in 200 copies.<ref name="comaromi155">{{harvp|Comaromi|1976|p= 155}}</ref>