A. Brian Deer

Alec Brian Deer (1945 – January 12, 2019), Tionerahtoken (Mohawk), known as Brian Deer, was a librarian from Kahnawake known for the development of a high-level, original library classification system that expresses Indigenous knowledge structures. He developed it while working in the late 1970s for the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) in Canada. He also applied the principles to other small collections, while creating new classifications. After further development, the system was revised and has been adapted for wider use, known as the Brian Deer Classification System (BDCS).

This classification system was extended and adapted for use by Deer and others for other libraries in Canada. In the early 1980s, a version was developed for use in British Columbia, known as BDC-BC. It has since been revised and used for the Xwi7xwa Library, established as an indigenous library at the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia.

Born with pneumonia and suffering from lung problems when young, Deer worked hard to build his physical strength.

Early life, education and marriage Alec Brian Deer, known as Brian, was born in 1945 in Brooklyn, New York, as the third child of four to Norah Johnson and Alec Deering (both Mohawk). A snowstorm had closed down the city and his parents had to walk to the hospital for his birth. Deer was born with pneumonia and suffered from lung problems as a child, undergoing surgery to remove part of his lungs. As a youth he set about building his physical strength to compensate.

Deer returned to Kahnawake where he worked on classifying and organizing materials at its Cultural Centre and at the Mohawk Nation Office. He also ran a video store at Kahnawake.

Later years After increasing health problems because of his lungs, Deer died in 2019. His sister Ann Penny Leclair predeceased him in 2014. He was survived by sister Sandra Richardson, who is married and lives in Winnipeg;

In 2014 the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Resource Centre released a new revision of the BDC-BC System. It included a model and tools to make it easier for other institutions to implement.