Keep it up, guys! This has generated more interest that I thought it would. I'm getting a wide range of thoughts and opinions. After we've worked out our own attitude in-house, I'll post a summary of some sort to the list. Lydia Lucas Head, Processing Department Minnesota Historical Society 345 Kellogg Boulevard West St. Paul, MN 55102-1906 ph (651) 297-5542 fax (651) 296-9961 e-mail: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Daniel Sokolow [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 10:58 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Who owns our catalog records? 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] A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List! To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List! To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>