The Decimal Office: Administration as a Science in the Netherlands in the First Decades of the Twentieth Century

In 1983 Boyd Rayward described the early diffusion abroad of the Dewey Decimal Classification (and indirectly of the Universal Decimal Classification) in Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Russia. Here, I discuss the enormous interest in the decimal system in the Netherlands that went far beyond its original role for the classification of bibliographic knowledge. I will present Johan Zaalberg (1858-1934) and Ernst Hijmans (1890-1987) as two advocates for the use of the decimal system in the administration of public organizations and private companies and its role in the development of scientific management in the Netherlands.