Archives are our cultural and scientific memory. For example, the Wellcome Library’s Codebreakers website explores the race to crack our genetic code, and showcases the real lives of the scientists involved. The Library aims to have 30 million images online by 2020, to encourage new areas of research and bring the biomedical sciences closer to a curious public.

Proposed legislative changes to exceptions in copyright law for archives and libraries are provoking concern within the cultural heritage sector, a sector that includes world-renowned archives, libraries and museums, including the National Archives, the British Museum and the Wellcome Library.

Without utilising the copyright exceptions under legislative review, the Wellcome Library have adopted a risk-managed approach to copyright compliance, and made over two million images of archive and library material available online in a landmark digitisation project.

CREATe is organising a symposium to examine and promote the use of risk-management strategies by cultural heritage institutions, a sector which has historically been risk-averse when utilising copyright law exceptions. The event will be held at the Wellcome Trust, London on Friday 27th September 2013.

Professor Ronan Deazley, research lead of the CREATe archives programme said “This is a great opportunity for all those involved in digitisation to come together to discuss some of the difficult issues that are facing those seeking to open access to members of the public. CREATe will continue to work in this area to make it easier for libraries, archives and others to open up their resources.”

The proposed library and archives exceptions to UK copyright law are currently under draft review, and consideration of these forthcoming legislative changes will occupy much of the discussion on the third panel of the conference programme.

Experts from the UK and the US will provide a comparison of archival copyright practices. They will examine the various problems the current copyright regime presents for archives undertaking mass digitisation projects, and showcase ideas around solutions to the types of problems commonly encountered by cultural heritage institutions who attempt to make their collections available online.

For more information or to arrange interviews please contact Victoria.Stobo@glasgow.ac.uk or call +44 0141 330 7013 or 07791007927.

CREATe is the RCUK centre for copyright and new business models in the creative economy. With an ambitious programme of 40 projects delivered by an interdisciplinary team of academics (law, economics, management, computer science, sociology, psychology, ethnography and critical studies), CREATe is a pioneering academic initiative designed to help the UK cultural and creative industries thrive and become innovation leaders within the global digital economy.

The Wellcome Library is one of the world's major resources for the study of medical history, and provides access to a growing collection of contemporary biomedical information resources relating to consumer health, popular science, biomedical ethics and the public understanding of science.  The Library is part of theWellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust's breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests.

The Archives and Records Association is the lead professional body for archivists, archive conservators and records managers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The first panel of the day provides an opportunity to learn more about the Wellcome Digital Library’s Codebreakers project, as well as other current and forthcoming digitisation initiatives being undertaken by the Wellcome. Speakers include: Simon Chaplin, Head of the Wellcome Library; Christy Henshaw, Digitisation Programme Manager; and Caroline Herbert, former Copyright Officer. Lesley Richmond, Deputy Library Director and Archivist at the University of Glasgow, will also discuss her experience of working with the Wellcome Library as an external partner to the Codebreakers project.

In the second panel, Victoria Stobo from the University of Glasgow will discuss the risk management strategy adopted by the Wellcome Digital Library for the Codebreakers project, and the relevance it may have for other archives and cultural heritage institutions interested in making their holdings available online. Simon Chaplin and David Mander, Vice-Chair of the Archives and Records Association, will have an opportunity to respond, before attendees address their own questions to the first and second panels.

In the third panel of the conference program, Robin Stout and Nick Munn, of the Intellectual Property Office, will present the latest iterations of the draft exceptions, while also speaking to the government’s view of risk-based models of copyright compliance. Tim Padfield, Information Policy Consultant and former Copyright Officer of the National Archives, will respond to both Robin and Nick’s comments on behalf of the UK archive community. Professor Martin Kretschmer, as panel chair, will also offer a perspective on the proposed Orphan Works scheme following the recently published Copyright and the regulation of Orphan Works study.

The final panel will see Professors Peter Jaszi, Peter B. Hirtle and Matthew Sag discuss how cultural heritage institutions in the US work with copyright law, and in particular the ongoing Authors Guild v. Hathi Trust case (currently on appeal). Matthew Sag (Loyola University) will discuss his experience working with lawyers, librarians and digital humanities scholars in preparing amicus briefs for Authors Guild v. Hathi Trust. Peter Jaszi (American University) will speak about his work with various creative and cultural sectors in the US – documentary film-makers, academic research libraries, and memory institutions – in developing best practice norms of copyright compliance and management that are appropriate for those sectors. And Peter Hirtle (Harvard University), author of Copyright & Cultural Institutions, will conclude the event with a set of reflections on copyright and risk management in the cultural heritage sector.

For information about the speakers, discussion points and running order, go to

www.create.ac.uk/archivesandcopyright2013/

Archives & Copyright is the culmination of CREATe Work Package 1B1: Copyright & Risk: Scoping the Wellcome Digital Library Project, a short case study designed to assess the Wellcome Digital Library’s use of a risk managed approach to rights clearance. Publication of the Copyright & Risk Project Report will follow the conference, ensuring that relevant comment and analysis from the day can be included. In addition, a set of conference proceedings in the usual CREATe style, incorporating videos, transcriptions, presentations and papers where available, will be made available as an open access web resource in early 2014. A linked PhD study (Archives, Digitisation & Copyright) begins in September, and it is hoped the Archives & Copyright web resource will continue to grow over and beyond the lifetime of the study.

The event has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Archives & Records Association UK and CREATe.

 

First published: 24 September 2013

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