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La bibliothèque moderne ne se situe pas dans la continuité du projet encyclopédique du siècle des Lumières. Entre 1850 et 1914, la classification Dewey a un double effet : elle redistribue des compétences techniques à tout un ensemble d’acteurs, y compris aux usagers. Davantage que sa logique de nature scientifique, sa véritable innovation sera de modifier en profondeur les règles d’interaction entre le lecteur et la bibliothèque, jusqu’alors tournée vers l’étude, et de faire de la recherche et de la consultation un nouvel objet intellectuel.

Classification and access to written works [1850-1914]: the beginnings of informational behaviourModern libraries did not develop in continuity with the encyclopaedic ideas of the Enlightenment. In 1850-1914, the Dewey classification system had a dual impact: it redistributed technical skills among a whole new group of people, which included its users. More even than its scientific logic, its real innovation was the profound change it brought in the patterns of interaction between reader and library, which had always centred on study, by turning research and consultation into a new intellectual object.