The Fine Art and Design Library, University of Bergen Library, at KMD, are organizing its collection by means of the Dewey Decimal Classification system, invented by the American librarian Melvil Dewey and first published in 1876. The last printed edition (DDC 23) was published in 2011. It now exists online known as WebDewey. In 1895 the Belgian barrister (lawyer/advocate) Paul Otlet and his collaborator Henry La Fontaine, also a lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau, wrote to Dewey asking for the permission to translate the system into French, and develop their own version further. They did get the permission and started to develop the Universal Decimal Classification, alongside a Universal Bibliographic Repertory, a Universal Iconographic Repertory, and more: “The first example of dematerialization of knowledge, the Universal Bibliographical Index is now considered the first model of a search engine.” Simultaneously, from 1890 the art historian Aby Warburg, with money from his wealthy family, began collecting books and develop a library that would become the most important library in Europe on the Renaissance, the afterlife of Antiquity. This period in history (1400-1600) also brings the invention of the movable-type printing press (Gutenberg, around 1440) and marks the beginning of the modern western world. The Warburg Library exists today as an independent unit within the University of London. This lecture is based on a master thesis on the Warburg Library from 2000 and 13 years of work with the Fine Art and Design Library (2010-2023).

Monday Lectures are a public platform combining invited guest lecturers and professors and researchers of the faculty at KMD. Monday Lectures aim to create a diverse programme of lectures exploring a wide range of disciplines and research topics. Lectures typically take place Mondays 10:00 at the Knut Knaus Auditorium and are free and open to all.

Image: Aby Warburg with Gertrud Bing and Franz Alber in Rome 1929, with part of the Mnemosyne Atlas in the making in the background. Source: The Warburg Institute, London.