Panel Session
Date: Friday 4th July, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Room: Anthropole Building – Room 1031
Moderator: Jeff Ubois, Internet Archive Europe
Four Rights For Libraries
The transition from owning physical materials to licensing digital content creates critical risks for libraries, and jeopardizes the preservation of cultural heritage and long-term access for all library patrons. License terms that prohibit librarians from preserving electronic works make access to in-copyright but out-of-commerce works difficult if not impossible.
In this session, legal scholars, technologists and Internet Archive staff will discuss how long established rights and practices of libraries are constrained in the digital world. This discussion will focus on recommending a framework for library rights, including the ability to:
Collect digital materials, including those made available only via streaming and other restricted means, through purchase on the open market or any other legal means, no matter the underlying file format;
Preserve those materials, and where necessary repair or reformat them, to ensure their long-term existence and availability;
Lend digital materials, at least in the same “one person at a time” manner as is traditional with physical materials;
Cooperate with other libraries, by sharing or transferring digital collections, so as to provide more equitable access for communities in remote and less well-funded areas.
A statement in support of these rights was recently signed by the government of Aruba (see https://brasiliana.museus.gov.br/aruba-declares-4-four-digital-rights-for-protecting-memory-institutions-online/ and https://blog.archive.org/2024/04/18/arubas-bold-support-of-library-digital-rights-by-brewster-kahle/). Versions of this statement are under consideration by other governments, library associations, funders, and legal scholars. This growing international momentum reflects the urgency for libraries worldwide to secure these rights in the digital era.
A review of LIBER’s past work on the Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age could be a useful addition to this session (see https://libereurope.eu/article/liber-signs-the-hague-declaration-on-knowledge-discovery-in-the-digital-age/.)
Panellists:
- Justus Dreyling, COMMUNIA
- Caroline De Cock, Research of information labs
- Lia Peter Routhier, Internet Archive