Re: Owner of Dewey Decimal System Sues Library-Themed Hotel

["Croft, Janet B" <jbcroft@ou.edu>]

Considering they don't have the numbers quite right -- it's just the broad
"100's" classification number followed by a room number -- I don't know
that OCLC really has a good case.  It's not like they sat down with a
borrowed copy of the DDC and figured out the exact number for the theme of
each room and used it.  So does this mean I can't put my personal
collection at home in Dewey order without paying $500 a year? Even just
broad 100's order? Does this mean little church libraries can't use the
1000's classifications posted on the web to bring some order to their
collections?  Are versions of the DDC published before 1923 in the public
domain?

Anyway, perhaps the hotel could offer to contribute a portion of profits
to a library-related charity each year.  Perhaps a NYC Public Library
literacy initiative would be appropriate.

Janet Brennan Croft 
Head of Access Services 
University of Oklahoma 
jbcroft@ou.edu 
"In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with
floaties and teach us how to swim." 
 Linton Weeks 
(Washington Post article, 13 January 2001, p. C01)

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> Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 22:41:31 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>
> To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject: Owner of Dewey Decimal System Sues Library-Themed Hotel
> 
> Dear Liblicence-l Readers:  A number of librarians who have 
> stayed at the Library Hotel in NYC have found it delightful 
> and are stunned the action being taken to enforce ownership 
> of the Dewey Decimal System.  As a consequence, this 
> newspaper article has circulated widley today.
> 
> One could imagine that OCLC and the Library Hotel could turn 
> this legal action into a win-win.  Accordingly, liblicense-l 
> will forward to the entire list any postings that propose 
> some interesting win-win 
> possibilities.  Maybe we can all help to resolve this unfortunate 
> situation.  The Moderators