library of primitive art

Correcting an omission

I've been back for a week now, after a delightful hiatus in the Southern Hemisphere, only to discover that the library world has spun on and forward without me. A little hard to regain the grip I had on the fast pace of change in our community. And this knowing that another absence is looming next month.

So a perfect time to look backward, I guess, on someone I've had reason to think about a lot this year: John Cotton Dana. My appreciation of Dana was rekindled by my distinguished colleagues Bill Dane (distinguished in every sense of the word) of Newark Public Library, and William Peniston of the Newark Museum. This year Bill co-curated a wonderful and wondrous exhibition at Newark PL celebrating Dana on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth. It was Bill's 'next-door neighbor', William, who posted an email announcement of the symposium entitled "Civic Life in Newark: The Legacy of John Cotton Dana," held July 13, 2006 at Newark PL.

Touring the exhbition and listening to the symposium talks, I was struck by Dana's relentless pursuit of innovation, indifference to the status quo, unapologetic pride in his profession, and tireless advocacy for his patrons.  A subsequent read of Dana's Library Primer (3d ed., 1903) revealed just how prescient and timeless his ideas are. For all his mental animation, he may not have been easy to work for (though legend has it he was doted on by his mostly female employees), but the significance of his accomplishments is indisputable.

As delightful as the Librarian Trading Card group on flickr! is, there's a notable lack of retrospection in the collection. My memories of trading cards turned on notions of comparable value from one to another. Was a Willie Mays more valuable than a Mickey Mantle? (To me, perhaps, but those Yankees always seem to bring the highest dollar.) And a Honus Wagner more than all of them? Its too early to assess the worth of my contemporaries, but these library giants of the past: Now they're worth something!

Taking a breather

I will be taking time out from this listening post to kick back and enjoy the arrival of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, in a city of bookstores steeped in the spirit of that literary lion and librarian, Jorge Luis Borges:

The other employees immediately forbade Borges from cataloging more than 100 books each day, a task which would take him about one hour. The rest of his days he would spend in the basement of the library, writing articles and short stories.

(And to think he never won the Nobel Prize for Literature or for Librarianship.) I also expect to see just a few museums, eat and drink a little, and stroll the streets of this walker's paradise.

Until I get back, keep your eyes on the other blogs I'm involved with.

[photo source]

A Note About the New Banner

Making Tappa (native cloth), 1890s (sepia photo)
Image source

Having just cobbled together a banner on behalf of Ross for this new blog of his, I thought I should post a note regarding its origin. The background image (Making Tappa, above) comes from The Bridgeman Art Library, which describes itself as

the world's leading source of fine art with images from over eight thousand collections and twenty nine thousand artists. We represent museums, galleries and artists throughout the world by providing a central source of fine art for image users

Aside from working with the world's museums to provide great images for scholarly use (etc.), there are other reasons for mentioning The Bridgeman Library, namely the ruling (c. 1999) that photographs of images from the public domain are not copyrightable. Referred to affectionately as "Bridgeman", this is considered a landmark ruling for fair use and digital reproduction of images.

See also: Wikipedia entry: Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.

and:
Recent Lessons from the Courts: The Changing Landscape of Copyright in a Digital Age
by Brett I. Miller, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (RLG DigiNews, April 15, 2000, Vol.4, no.2)

excerpt:

To the extent that Bridgeman stands for the broad proposition that no copyright interest can be claimed in a digital reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain work of art, the case unquestionably undercuts one of the most important weapons available to institutions to police the unauthorized copying and distribution of digital image collections. However, the Bridgeman holding concerns only reproductions of two-dimensional works in the public domain. This leaves reproductions of three-dimensional objects - which arguably involve a greater degree of "originality" by virtue of the selection of backdrop, lighting, perspective and other creative choices involved in their creation - still subject to copyright. Moreover, Bridgeman does nothing to impact or undermine the separate and independent copyright interest that institutions may have in digital image collections as "compilations." Compilations are works formed by the collection and assembling of pre-existing elements that, standing alone, may not be subject to copyright protection. Accordingly, although Bridgeman may affect an institution's ability to claim copyright in reproductions of particular images, the case does not undermine the copyright interest an institution may have in the selection, arrangement and coordination of the particular elements comprising a given digital image collection.

Furthermore:

While Bridgeman represents the first judicial pronouncement on whether a digital reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain work of art is sufficiently original for copyright protection as a threshold matter, a case decided in December of last year, Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., provides critical insight into how the fair use doctrine will be applied in the digital context. The fair use doctrine is arguably the most important limitation on the rights granted to copyright owners. Fair use is a defensive claim that serves to protect third parties from liability for conduct that may otherwise constitute actionable infringement. The current federal copyright statute codifies this equitable doctrine by providing, in relevant part, that "the fair use of a copyrighted work . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching . . . scholarship, or research is not an infringement . . ." [read on...]

Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum and its ilk

• 32 Weirdly Specific Museums (from SenseList)

I couldn't figure out which of my blogs to put this reblog in, but in the end this one won out. I guess there's something to be said about being in an encyclopedic museum ("5000 Years of Art" [emphasis added]) and not one dedicated to plumbing fixtures. There are some interesting links to follow here as well.

Credit for reblogging it to my attention goes to the quirky Museum Madness blog.