The Dewey Decimal System Day is observed every year on December 10th in honor of Melvil Dewey.

December 10, 1851, is the birthday of Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. Dewey’s interest in simplification led him to create a system that revolutionized library science. Born Melville Louis Kosuth Dewey in upstate New York, he was only 21 when he invented the Dewey Decimal Classification system.

Melvil Dewey developed and established the Dewey Decimal System in 1876… it has been in use 141 years! The numerical system arranges non-fiction books into ten main categories.
This is the nonfiction chart we use in the William O. Schaefer Library.

Task: Select 2-4 Dewey Decimal Task Cards. Using the nonfiction chart, you and a partner must decide which Dewey Decimal number best answers the statement on the task card. For example, a task card may state: Your teacher has asked you to find a poem and memorize it for class next week. Where can you find a book with poems in it? Use the chart to locate the answer.

As a tribute to Melvile Dewey and his numerical system, teachers and students will take photographs of themselves exploring and using the WOS nonfiction chart.

If you need help reading the “Dewey Decimal Task Cards” click on the task card number below and listen as Ms. Eyer reads the card to you.

Send the photos by email to, door03sum21should@photos.flickr.com, use the subject line to give your photo a title, the title should be the Dewey Decimal number and topic you are photographing. In the body of the email, use the hashtag #DeweyDecimalSystemDay.

Look for your photographs in the slideshow below.