Starting with a statement by the chemist Wilhelm Ostwald on combinatorics as a component of creativity, this essay illustrates the relation between the library and combinatorics, and with it mathematics, through citations of the novel "The library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges. In the end the correlation of combinatorics and creativity is seen in the context of modern notions and alternative views of intellectual property rights (Creative Commons): "The Library of Babel" which contains all works that can be constructed through combination of all possible signs, is part of a world where plagiarism is impossible, respectively all works are plagiarism.
