The Dewey Decimal System is Racist But We Can Change It
By: Katie Laird
Tags: Dewey Decimal System, Academia, Social Justice

It’s uncomfortable realizing just how busted and lopsided so many every day things are in our lives — the history of the words we use and the systems we lean on without re-examining their harmful nuances.

So, yeah, let’s talk the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system (quickie primer here), the hierarchical organization method used more than any other to organize books in 200,000+ libraries throughout 130+ countries.

It’s decimal-based book classification system probably baffled you at some point in your life while trying to do last minute research in your high school library.

Melvil Dewey (in pink) surrounded by librarian colleagues via the American Library Association.

And it was created by a wildly complicated and flawed founder: Melvil Dewey.

A brilliant mind obsessed with order and the number 10, yes.

A sexist and serial sexual harasser, also yes.

A racist and homophobe, oh my yes.

A categorization full of decimals and bigotry

This is a moment where we pause and say that it’s not okay to simply attribute a man’s behavior as simply “being of his time” (a la the 1870s) and stop perpetuating the harmful consequences of a bigoted mindset. This mindset bled into his organizational system, leaving us with a system rooted in white, Euro-centric, Protestant bias that should be (at the very least) reviewed regularly and overhauled to meet the realities of a far more inclusive world today.

But how does Dewey’s thinking impact us today? The way we organize and make information accessible shapes who we are as a society. We show how we think and what/who we value by how we categorize it.

As activist librarian Sanford Berman writes, “just because, in short, we were “brought up that way” is no valid reason for perpetuating, either in our crania or our catalogues, the humanity-degrading, intellect-constricting rubbish” found in antiquated systems.

We are as human, thoughtful and kind as the information we create, consume and share. Here are a few ways that the Dewey Decimal Classification has hurt marginalized communities

The LGBTQ+ journey through Dewey

As the Goldsmiths University of London library blog tracks it, LGBTQ+ related books have had an interesting classification journey that still doesn’t land them in the 305 ‘Groups of People’ section to this day. Instead, content related to or written by the LGBTQ+ community has lived in the following library categories:

‘Abnormal psychology’ in 1932

‘Social problems’ in 1989

Today? You’ll find it at ‘306.7 — Sexual orientation, transgenderism, intersexuality’

To be clear, the current classification is an improvement but… I mean… LGBTQ+ people are PEOPLE (aka: 305), so finding LGBTQ+ related content “between prostitution and child trafficking on one side and fetishes and BDSM on the other” feels truly wrong. We can do better.

Racism and the Dewey Decimal Drama

Imagine being a Black student searching for a poet of color and having to search under ‘326-Colonization’ to find it. Of course, this is me making the huge assumptions that you were allowed into the library at all and that the poet was even recognized or stocked at your library- this book on public library access for African Americans is a rich resource.

Legendary Howard University librarian Dorothy Parker saw this and said ‘nope’ — re-configuring her library’s system to desegregate the library shelves and pushing future generations of scholars to access and appreciate a richer catalog of more diverse writers.

But the struggle continues today as librarians grapple with a system that still automatically places political books about white people into the 900s-History, but a book about Black people or immigrants into the 300s-Social sciences. Sending indigenous, Black, immigrant and women’s rights history into Social sciences and away from the general History heading is harmful and one more way of perpetuating a one-sided history of who we are as a people.

Librarians to the social justice rescue

The good news is that other great minds feel exactly the same way as the American Librarian Association just stripped Dewey’s name from their prestigious Melvil Dewey Award. While I couldn’t find the updated award name, it’s smart to want this honor to be associated with something more inline with their diverse and inclusive mindset.

Want another cool librarian hero story? For decades, one group been reviewing and pushing back on these antiquated, harmful Dewey classifications of knowledge. The global library cooperative OCLC owns the DDC trademark and employs an editorial team in the Library of Congress that works to keep things current and equitable.

I love their tagline: Because what is known must be shared. And I love even more that a group of passionate librarians can be agents for social change by re-categorizing what we know to better catalog and celebrate who we really are. One book and decimal at a time.

And just because it’s TOO amazing, here’s a fabulous quote from Sandy Berman closing out an interview about humanizing the library cataloging system. May we all embrace this energy in our own work:

Catalogers, arise! Cast off your bondage and passivity! Say no to creativity-stifling conformity! Demand a role in decision-making! Prioritize professional integrity and unleashed imagination! And never forget who you really work for: library users and colleagues. Not bosses and bureaucrats!”

— Sandy Berman