We were shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Lois Mai Chan on August 20.
Lois was a member of the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) 1975-1993, and she served as chair of EPC 1986-1991. Before her last EPC meeting, Peter Paulson (then executive director of Forest Press) wrote: "As most of you already know, this will be the last EPC meeting for Lois Chan, who has served the Committee wisely and well for eighteen years. We shall miss her careful and thoughtful reading of exhibits, her ability to clarify ambiguities, and her soothing composure when opinions conflict. We will be honoring Lois at the Committee dinner on Wednesday evening."
Lois was co-author of Dewey Decimal Classification: A Practical Guide (1994, 1996) and Dewey Decimal Classification: Principles and Application (2003).
Lois was part of the teams that introduced Dewey at workshops held in various locations around the world: in 1995 at Crimea '95 and in Moscow at the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology, at IFLA in Beijing in 1996, and in several venues in Hanoi in 1997. The proceedings of the Beijing workshop were published as Dewey Decimal Classification: Edition 21 and International Perspectives: Papers from a Workshop presented at the General Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Beijing, China, August 29, 1996. Lois gave the opening remarks, the summary and closing remarks, and was co-editor of the publication—doing what was typical for her.
Her deep understanding of the principles of the DDC, and her consistently careful, hard work to communicate that understanding to students around the world made a lasting contribution to the development and teaching of the DDC.
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