Louis JOURDAN wrote:
>
> I just found the following phrase in a book on universal expositions
> ("World's fairs and the end of progress", Alfred Heller, World's Fair,
> Inc. 1999):
>
> "Everything at the Centennial [the Centennial International
> Exhibition, Philadelphia, 1876] was classified in one of
> seven departments, ..., subclassified and subclassified
> again in a logical scheme that later became a model for the
> Dewey Decimal System used in libraries."
>
> A Google search led me to several pages about Melvil Dewey and his
> "Decimal classification". See for instance
> http://www.oclc.org/dewey/about/biography.htm
>
> I wonder why , if an American was able to develop such a logical
> system of classification of books, Americans in general still cling to
> their obsolete, illogical system of measures!
Perhaps the very complex Library of Congress (LOC) classification
scheme is the antithesis of the Dewey Decimal System. I've never
understood the LOC system. Yet, that seems to be the system preferred by
large libraries. As far as I can tell, there's not a whole lot about it
that is decimal!
Jim
--
Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
James R. Frysinger, LCAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Charleston, SC 29407 phone: 843.225.6789
