William Stetson Merrill

William Stetson Merrill (1866 – 1969) was an American librarian at Newberry Library, who also contributed to the fields of library classification and history.[1] He was the author of A Code for Classifiers in the period 1912 to 1939, and was connected to the American Library Association.[2][3] He was also a scholar on Vinland.

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.[4][5][6] 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.[7]

The Code was intended as an improvement of existing schemes such as Dewey Decimal Classification, Cutter Expansive Classification and James Duff Brown'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.[8]

Vinland

Merrill authored several academic articles on the Norse discovery of Vinland, and on the scholarship surrounding these voyages.[9] The article The Vinland Problem Through Four Centuries (1935) is a review of available theories about Thorfinn Karlsefni's voyages in the Saga of Erik the Red.[10]

Honours

Merrill was an honorary member of the Knights of Columbus and the Chicago Library Club.[11]

References
  1. Anita S. Coleman. A Code for Classifiers: Whatever Happened to Merrill’s Code? Knowledge Organization 31(3): 161-176
  2. http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/105839
  3. Comments on the Proposed Nonexpansive Classification System Henry E. Bliss and William Stetson Merrill The Library Quarterly Vol. 8, No. 1 (Jan., 1938), pp. 120-126 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4302433
  4. http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/105839
  5. Anita S. Coleman, (2006) "William Stetson Merrill and bricolage for information studies", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 62 Iss: 4, pp.462 - 481
  6. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/105856
  7. Anita S. Coleman. A Code for Classifiers: Whatever Happened to Merrill’s Code? Knowledge Organization 31(3): 161-176
  8. Anita S. Coleman. A Code for Classifiers: Whatever Happened to Merrill’s Code? Knowledge Organization 31(3): 161-176
  9. The Catholic Contribution to the History of the Norse Discovery of America William Stetson Merrill The Catholic Historical Review Vol. 13, No. 4 (Jan., 1928), pp. 589-619 Published by: Catholic University of America Press Article Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25012480
  10. The Vinland Problem through Four Centuries William Stetson Merrill The Catholic Historical Review Vol. 21, No. 1 (Apr., 1935), pp. 21-48 Published by: Catholic University of America Press Article Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25013345
  11. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279470178_A_Code_for_Classifiers_Whatever_Happened_to_Merrilla_s_Code
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