Editing Herbert Putnam (section)

==Early career==
After graduating [[magna cum laude]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1883, Putnam spent the following year at [[Columbia University Law School]].<ref name="Rosenberg, 1993, p. 25"/> Eventually, however, his interest in administrative work led him to the [[Minneapolis Central Library#History|Minneapolis Athenaeum]] where he served as librarian in 1887, until it merged into the [[Minneapolis Public Library]] in 1888.<ref name="Rosenberg, 1993, p. 25"/> Putnam was elected city librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library at that time and served while simultaneously being admitted to the Minnesota bar of Law.<ref name="Rosenberg, 1993, p. 25"/> According to the Honorable Lawrence Lewis of Colorado at a Tribute for Putnam in 1939, Putnam at this time "modernized antiquated methods, revised the charging records of books on loan, inaugurated a new system of cataloging and classification, opened the alcoves to readers, [and] insisted that 'there are two great problems of library management – one to get the books for the readers, the other to get the readers to the books.'"<ref name="Lewis, 1939, p. 4"/> During this time he developed the [[Putnam Classification System]] (based in part on work by [[John Edmands (librarian)|John Edmands]]), which would influence his later design of the [[Library of Congress Classification]] system.<ref>Andy Sturdevant. [https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2014/02/cracking-spine-hennepin-county-librarys-many-hidden-charms "Cracking the spine on Hennepin County Library's many hidden charms".] ''[[MinnPost]]'', 02/05/14.</ref>

In 1891, Putnam resigned his [[Minneapolis]] post due to his mother-in-law's ill health and promptly returned to Boston to be near her. Putnam "was admitted to the [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk]] bar, and practiced law in [[Boston]] until the 18th of February 1895"<ref name="Lewis, 1939, p. 5">Lewis, 1939, p. 5</ref> when he was appointed Librarian of the [[Boston Public Library]]. During his tenure at the Boston Public Library "there were 9 branches and 12 delivery stations. At the end of his four years, there were 10 branches, 5 minor branches, called 'reading rooms,' and 56 deposit stations…the library grew from a total of 610,375 volumes at the close of 1894 to 716,050 at the close of 1898."<ref name="Lewis, 1939, p. 5"/> Another contribution made by Putnam towards the Boston Public Library was the addition of a room devoted to juveniles, "believed to have been the first room wholly devoted to the service of children in any of the larger libraries of the country."<ref name="Lewis, 1939, p. 5"/>