Due to more than one person pointing this out to me, let me clarify a
statement I made in an earlier email.  I had no intention of denigrating the
work done by catalogers; I have a great deal of respect for the work they
do, and I accept fully that I have no idea how it's done.

My point was in response to the original question; while certain aspects of
cataloging are (I now understand) subject to individual interpretation, I
still maintain that much of the information about the book is,
THEORETICALLY, available to anyone willing to take the time to copy it down
and therefore not protected or privately owned.

Much in the same way that the times of sunrise and sunset are not, per se,
privately owned and could, given the right equipment, be determined by
anyone, I would maintain that certain basic information about a book could
be gathered by any Joe Shmoe off the street.  (Sunrise & sunset are
important times for the Jewish calendar, hence my choice of example.  If you
were wondering.)

Mr. Shmoe's work would probably be wrong and riddled with errors, but
nonetheless the information is out there.  If the original request was over
ownership of the information, it seems to me the information is closer to
public domain than private.  Despite that, there is what the corporate world
refers to as "value-added"; the work the highly intelligent and
magnificently talented (how thick can I lay it on? :) ) catalogers do to
make the information useable creates a new product, which is the aggregate
collection of compiled catalog records.

The latter is, in my opinion, property of the creator and could,
conceivably, be a saleable product.  I personally would probably try & buy a
compilation of records done by a professional since my time and energy are
better used for other things.  I don't question the effort or skill required
for cataloging, only whether it stands as a private creation in the way that
a book or article is.

Fire back at will.

DS

______________________________________
Daniel Sokolow, Archives Coordinator
David Taylor Archives
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
155 Community Drive
Great Neck, NY 11021
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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