Jennie Dorcas Fellows (April 4, 1873 – October 10, 1938), also known as Dorcas Fellows and Dorkas Fellows, was an author and instructor of
library cataloging
A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also c ...
at the
New York State Library. Her book, ''Cataloging Rules'', originally published in 1914 as bulletin 36 of the New York State Library School, remains in print in its many editions and formats.
Fellows edited the
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 ...
(DDC) from 1921 to 1937. She took over the 11th edition after the death of
May Seymour, but the first full edition that she issued was the 12th. This edition was 25% larger than the previous edition, and was well received.
The 13th edition published in 1932, edited by Fellows, grew again by one-third, adding over four hundred pages and bringing the printed classification to 1,647 pages.
Fellows embraced Melvil Dewey's spelling reform, and continued to published the classification using the reformed spelling standard. Letters sent between Fellows and Dewey were written in an even further reduced shorthand, such as:
"''d n order'' paper. I l get tt i tym. Giv whn redi t order final decision o syz & weit."
It was during this time that she also changed the spelling of her name from Dorcas to Dorkas, in accord with Dewey's spelling reform rules.
In 1927, Fellows moved the DDC editorial offices from the Lake Placid Club to an office in the Library of Congress. Shortly afterward, Decimal Classification numbers began appearing on the Library of Congress cataloging cards that were sold to thousands of libraries for use in their catalogs.
She died in 1938, while still working on the 14th edition of the classification.
References
External links
New York State Library Annual Report, vol. 95See page 38 entry 183 for a brief bio on Fellows
Cataloging RulesFree internet pdf at Archive.org
American librarians
American women librarians
People from Norwich, Connecticut
1873 births
1938 deaths
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