Hello DSpacers,
below is an email exchange between me and OCLC about possible licensing
issues if a DSpace installation were to use DDC subject names. Briefly, they
said it was ok. So I would like to place this on the record. Given the
recent lawsuite launched by the OCLC on a hotel that used DDC to name and
number its rooms, I still have my doubts. And I note that there website
still hasn't been updated.
I actually spoke to Libbie as well as emailing and she said that as far as
she knew, no DSpacers had ever called the OCLC about this. Perhaps someone
else could so it's not just me. She did wonder why no one else had
(apparently) tried to make contact.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Crawford,Libbie <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 2:03 PM
Subject: RE: FW: what are the licensing issues when a digital library uses
DDC?
To: Andrew Marlow <[email protected]>
Cc: Joyce Parker <[email protected]>
Andrew--
Short answer...NO license is needed.
I probably should not have given you a case where one was needed. OOOPS
Thanks,
Libbie
------------------------------
*From:* Andrew Marlow [mailto:[email protected]]
*Sent:* Wednesday, January 07, 2009 6:58 PM
*To:* Crawford,Libbie
*Cc:* Joyce Parker
*Subject:* Re: FW: what are the licensing issues when a digital library uses
DDC?
On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 6:52 PM, Crawford,Libbie <[email protected]> wrote:
> Andrew-
>
> Since you are using the DDC to classify virtual materials, it is exactly
> the same concept as a library using the DDC to classify books and other
> materials and is therefore permitted to be used with no additional
> licensing. We view this type of usage as a standard usage of the DDC.
>
That's good news, thanks! But see below....
>
> Cases where licensing is required include creating software to use the DDC
> to automatically classify materials based on some sort of algorithm. This
> case would require a license since you would need to acquire the
> underlying database from us in machine readable form.
>
Hmm, this leaves me a bit confused still. My plan is to create software but
this software does NOT need a database supplied by you. Do I still need a
license? It is not clear to me what the license is actually *for*. Perhaps I
could see the wording of the license? I have seen some license wording on
the OCLC website but this wording is for when the OCLC gives people the
right to use software that has been developed by the OCLC. That is not the
case here.
What I had in mind is that I would write some software as additions to
DSpace that would allow it to generate all the subjects given the DDC code
for an article. So instead of giving multiple dublin core dc.subject values
I would give a DDC number of 540.1, let's say that's physical chemistry. And
this would have the same effect as if I had specified multiple dc.subject
values of science, chemistry, and physical chemistry. So I would be writing
new software that employed an algorithm to automatically assign dublin core
subject names given a DDC number. But I would do this without the OCLC
having to supply me with a database. My software would, of course, have to
know all the subject names for the various DDC numbers. I would have to get
this information from somewhere. But it is pure information, not a database
and not software. I would have to turn that information into software
myself. Do I need a license to do that? Do I need a license to simply get
the information, given that I intend to use that information to develop my
own software? I see there are a number of websites, including wikipedia
(among others) where I can get the DDC information my software would need.
Is the license required if I get this DDC number to subject mapping
information from the OCLC? If I got it some place else does this mean a
license is NOT required?
> I hope this helps!
>
Well, I think further clarification is still needed....
> Thanks,
> Libbie
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Andrew Marlow [mailto:[email protected]]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 07, 2009 12:02 PM
> *To:* Crawford,Libbie
> *Cc:* Joyce Parker
> *Subject:* Re: FW: what are the licensing issues when a digital library
> uses DDC?
>
> On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:12 PM, Crawford,Libbie <[email protected]>wrote:
>
>> Andrew--
>>
>> I just have returned from the Holidays and saw your message. From the
>> content, it looks like you are using the DDC to organize your digital
>> library, much as a brick and mortar library uses the DDC to organize their
>> collections. No one other than the library staff sees the actual
>> classification scheme. Usage such as this is allowed just as it would be for
>> brick and mortar libraries.
>>
>> If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me directly.
>>
>
> Many thanks for your reply. I do still have a question and a
> clarification.
>
> First, to clarify, I am a freelance consultant working on a commercial
> digital library (DL) implementation. It does NOT use DSpace. However, I am
> looking at DSpace out of personal interest. At the end of my investigation I
> might make a recommendation that my client looks at using DSpace for the
> implementation. And then again, I might not. It depends what I find. One
> issue I have found so far is that DSpace does not use DDC and claims the
> reason is 'licensing issues'. I find the OCLC website to be very short on
> detail that would shed light on the issue. Perhaps your web site could be
> updated? I want my prototype DL that uses DSpace to use DDC but without
> license clarification this could hurt rather than help. It might make my
> client think that if they went with my DSpace suggestion they would be able
> to use DDC without any license issues.
>
> The content is to be organised mainly by a hierarchy that reflects who
> produced the articles. So we have associations or societies that produce a
> number of journals, a given journal has a number of issues, a particular
> issue has a number of articles. An article has a subject. If the subjects
> were understood to be in a hierachy such as DDC then as content got added
> the subject hierarchy would expend, but the initial hierarchy that must be
> created first it NOT subject-based. This is in contrast to the way books are
> laid out in most physical libraries that employ DDC. There DDC is used for
> organisation on the shelf. So I am NOT using DDC to organise like physical
> libraries do.
>
> So here is my question: If I was to use DDC in a DSpace-based DL that was
> used for a commercial product, what license issues, if any, would there be
> with the OCLC? The DL would allow browsing by DDC subject and the DDC
> hierarchy using DDC subject names would be visible.
>
>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Libbie
>>
>> Libbie Crawford, MLIS
>> Product Manager
>> Dewey Decimal Classification
>> OCLC
>> 6565 Kilgour Place
>> Dublin, Ohio 43017-3995 USA
>> T +1-614-764-6346
>> 1-800-848-5878
>> F +1-614-718-7434
>> E [email protected]
>> www.oclc.org/dewey
>>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Andrew M.
> http://www.andrewpetermarlow.co.uk
>
>
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