Talk:Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Comment moved here from the article

This material, and the material on the named website, is information in the public domain and has been incorrectly identified as being protected by copyright. The material is taken from "The Lucius Beebe memorial library, an historical sketch written by Elizabeth Frances Ingram (1925)" which is a book in the public domain. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2500319;view=1up;seq=1 (added there 14:50, 21 February 2015‎ by Petercannon usf)

I'm afraid I do not agree. A comparison of the initial text of the article with the full text of that book shows no significant copying, whereas a comparison with http://www.wakefieldlibrary.org/libraryinfo/librarybuilding/libraryhistory/ shows considerable overlap. To give one example:

Our article	The book	The website
Also that year, Miss Victorine E. Marsh was appointed librarian and served until 1885 when she resigned due to ill health and was replaced by Mrs. Harriet A. Shepard.	Miss Marsh resigned in 1885 on account of ill health, and Mrs. Harriet A. Shepard was appointed librarian.	Miss Victorine E. Marsh had been appointed librarian in 1868 and she served until 1885 when she resigned due to ill health and was replaced by Mrs. Harriet A. Shepard.

That the website may have based its text on the facts in the book makes no difference; it is the way those facts are expressed that constitutes the creative content. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 17:30, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

I tend to disagree but I would like to get this resolved. Here is a listing of the medallions, one from the book and one from the page: David, the poet of Hebrew literature (d.962 B.C.) Homer, the father of epic poetry (9th – 8th cent. B.C.) Euripides, the master of tragic poetry (484-406 B.C.) Cicero, the Roman orator (106-43 B.C.) St. Augustine, the great religious teacher (354-430) Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry (1342-1400) Dante, author of the Divine Comedy (1265-1321) Desiderius Erasmus, the classical scholar and theologian of the Middle Ages (1466-1536) William Shakespeare, the greatest of English poets and dramatists (1564-1616) Moliere, the writer of French comedy (1622-1673) Goethe, the greatest German poet (1749-1832) Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and resident of nearby Concord, Mass. (1803-1882) Robert Browning, English poet (1812-1889) Henrik Ibsen, the great Norwegian playwright (1828-1906)

1. David, the poet of Hebrew Literature. 2. Homer, the father of epic poetry. 3. Euripides, the master of tragic poetry. 4. Cicero, the Roman orator. 5. St. Augustine, the great religious teacher, whose vision of the "City of God" shaped the course of an empire. 6. Chaucer, the father of English poetry. 7. Dante, whose "Divine Comedy" made the Italian language a classic. 8. Desiderius Erasmus, the classical scholar and theologian of the Middle Ages. 9. Shakespeare, the greatest of English poets and dramatists. 10. Moliere, the writer of French comedy. 11. Goethe, the greatest German poet. 12. Ralph Waldo Emerson, America's seer and poet. 13. Robert Browning, English poet, master of narrative, lyric, and dramatic verse of the nine-teenth century. 14. Ibsen, the great Scandanavian playwright, who laid the foundation for modern English and American drama.

These two texts are pretty close and it is clear that this book served as the source for the website and is a derivative, with modification. A website (or any work) cannot claim copyright if it is a derivative and not an original work. This is basic copyright law.
In any event I would like to get this issue resolved and I appreciate your help with this matter.Petercannon usf (talk) 18:08, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

Hello, Petercannon usf. Actually, websites can claim copyright of derivative works - while they do not claim copyright over the original content, new creative content built into public domain works attracts new copyright. This is why, for instance, OED articles may be copyrighted even when based on out-of-date versions. (See derivative work.)

It's pretty clear that the derivative was the primary source here. For instance:

Article	PD Book	Derivative website
The town’s first public library was established in 1856 when a committee met to establish a library. The library was first located in the old Town House, overlooking the Wakefield Common.	In March, 1856, the citizens of South Reading, then a town of less than three thousand inhabitants, appointed a committee to take such steps as were necessary toward the establishment of a town library. This committee consisted of the following members:B. F. Tweed Liley Eaton Fred A. Sawyer J. M. Evans George O. Carpenter James Oliver. The committee acted with great promptness. The first floor of the old Town House, then standing at the head of the Common east of the old Congregational Church, was chosen as the best place for the library; books were obtained from the older circulating libraries and contributed by citizens of the town, and in the summer of 1856 the Town Library of South Reading, by which name it was known for twelve years, was opened to the public.	The town’s first public library was established in 1856, when a committee' consisting of B.F. Tweed, Lilley Eaton, Fred A. Sawyer, J.M. Evans, George O. Carpenter, and James Oliver was formed to take the necessary steps towards establishing a library. The library was then located in the old Town House, overlooking the Common.

The article uses both language and structure from the derivative, rather than the original. I'm afraid that barring a compatible license, we can't use the derivative work in creating our content. You are free to use the material that is in the public domain, to create a new modernized version of your own or simply in itself. But please see Wikipedia:Plagiarism - even when using public domain sources, we have to acknowledge that we are copying or closely following content. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 01:05, 17 March 2015 (UTC)