Announcing the Truman Decimal Classification (TDC)

Newly-found photographic evidence confirms what was long held to be an urban legend: the creator of our beloved decimal classification system was, in fact, US President Harry S Truman!

Credit: W. Eugene Smith

This discovery is particularly ironic because Truman's middle name was simply the initial "S," many copy editors (and amateur grammarians) have questioned whether the period belongs in his name. While the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum assures us that the dot after the "S" is justified, we beg to differ—the dot, in fact, belongs squarely after the initial three digits of any TDC number.

When, among his many other achievements, Truman made time to design the system, and how it came to be attributed to an obscure, late 19^th-century librarian, remain unclear at this time.

To illustrate this clear break from the past, we recommend that going forward, works about the Truman Decimal Classification be classed not in 025.431, but 394.262.

 

Comments

[Poindexter]

I heard the inventor of the DUI system was Loof Lirpa

[Hannah Ringstaff]

Nice one ;-)