American librarians have voted to remove the name of Melvil Dewey, widely seen as the father of modern librarianship, from one of their top awards, citing his history of antisemitism, racism and sexual harassment.

The council of the American Library Association (ALA) passed a resolution this week to rename its top professional award, the Melvil Dewey Medal. The resolution explains that Dewey did not permit Jewish people, African Americans or other minorities admittance to the resort he owned, the Lake Placid Club. He also “made numerous inappropriate physical advances toward women he worked with and wielded professional power over” and was ostracised from the ALA after four women accused him of sexual impropriety, the resolution continues, declaring that “the behaviour demonstrated for decades by Dewey does not represent the stated fundamental values of ALA in equity, diversity, and inclusion”.

Dewey was one of the founders of the ALA. In 1876, he published A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloguing and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library, which outlined what would become known as the Dewey decimal classification – a system which is now used by libraries throughout the English-speaking world. He was director of the New York State Library from 1889 to 1906, when pressure from petitioners outraged at the exclusion of Jews from his resort forced his resignation. In Dewey’s biography, Irrepressible Reformer, Wayne Wiegand recounts how Los Angeles Public Library head librarian Tessa Kelso wrote in a 1924 letter that “for many years women librarians have been the special prey of Mr Dewey in a series of outrages against decency”.

Writing in the ALA’s magazine American Libraries last June, editor-at-large Anne Ford described how early biographies of the librarian called him a “genius” and “a prophet pointing forward to a glorious promised land”. His history of harassment was brushed off with the excuse that his “consciousness of his own strength and freedom from evil purpose led to a serene indifference in his every-day public relations with women”, and his exclusion of Jews from his resort with the reasoning that “Dewey might – and did – point out that as a private club, it had a perfect legal right to do this”. It wasn’t until Wiegand’s 1996 biography that the full extent of Dewey’s behaviour was made clear.

“To be clear, no one we spoke with is calling for Dewey to be wiped from the history books,” Ford continued. “Nor are they suggesting that his accomplishments be disregarded. Still, more than 20 years after Dewey’s misconduct was laid bare in Irrepressible Reformer, public acknowledgments of his racism and sexism remain rare.”

Ian Anstice, the editor of Public Libraries News, acknowledged that the revelations about Dewey’s behaviour cause librarians “some difficulties”, because while the system he devised has been modified it is still widely used.

“It would be difficult to scrap it and odd to change its name,” Anstice said, “but such things as simply renaming an award absolutely should be done. Dewey is in the past now and should not be someone that is unquestionably looked up to. His behaviour should be questioned and responded to appropriately, like we would with anyone else.”

The ALA has yet to decide on a new name for the Dewey Medal. The move follows the American Library Association’s decision last year to change the name of its Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal to the Children’s literature legacy award following concerns raised over the Little House on the Prairie author’s “complex” legacy, in particular her “stereotypical” portrayal of African Americans and Native Americans.