William Stetson Merrill (1866 – 1969) was an American

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

at Newberry Library, who also contributed to the fields of

library classification A library classification is a system of organization of knowledge by which library resources are arranged and ordered systematically. Library classifications are a notational system that represents the order of topics in the classification and al ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

. He was the author of ''A Code for Classifiers'' in the period 1912 to 1939, and was connected to the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

. He was also a scholar on

Vinland Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...

''A Code for Classifiers''

Merrill's 1928 book ''A Code for Classifiers: Principles Governing the Consistent Placing of Books in a System of Classification'' is still under scrutiny in the field of

information studies Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. P ...

. It is "''essentially a description of the problems in classification arguing the need for a classifier's code, a code that transcended individual classification systems''". A second edition was released in 1939. The Code was intended as an improvement of existing schemes such as

Dewey Decimal Classification The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. Section 4.1 ...

, Cutter Expansive Classification and

James Duff Brown James Duff Brown (1862–1914) was a British librarian, information theorist, music biographer and educationalist. Most of his life was spent in London. Biography He was born in Edinburgh, but after beginning his library career in Glasgow, he ...

's Subject Classification. Merrill contrasted the ''art of classifying'' from the ''science of classification'', and categorized himself as a practical classifier; his interest was the practice of library classification. The 1928 Code includes 300 rules that Merrill had used for classifying materials in the Newberry Library. There are two sections of such rules, for “The One-topic book” and “The Two-topic book.” In the 1939 edition, this had increased to 365 rules.

Vinland

Merrill authored several academic articles on the Norse discovery of

, and on the scholarship surrounding these voyages. The article ''The Vinland Problem Through Four Centuries'' (1935) is a review of available theories about

Thorfinn Karlsefni Thorfinn Karlsefni Thórdarson was an Icelandic explorer. Around the year 1010, he followed Leif Eriksson's route to Vinland in a short-lived attempt to establish a permanent settlement there with his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir and their fol ...

's voyages in the ''

Saga of Erik the Red The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in non, Eiríks saga rauða (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different version ...

''.

Honours

Merrill was an honorary member of the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

and the Chicago Library Club.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, William Stetson American librarians American Library Association people 1866 births 1969 deaths American centenarians Men centenarians