It will probably not impact many GLAMs that take strong positions, but the more public institutions that acknowledge copyright, the better.
A policy could be the tipping point. If the AHRC took this up, it would mean everyone else would come together and fall in line. Even if it's only prospective, it’s a huge step forward.
We need transferable, long-term goals. Knowing what to aspire to is important. But things also need to be formatted in a way they can plug into other platforms and make it worthwhile for everyone involved. We hate revisiting datasets and assets to rejig them. Things need to be realistic.
Finally, participants also expressed a desire for a national repository and/or sustainable digital space. Although this is outside the scope of this report, it is worth considering in light of EU developments.
A programme for long term public domain, copyright and open access support
TaNC and AHRC can provide important leadership in this area and coordinate with other UK funding bodies and associations to develop a programme to provide long term support and improve the landscape for a digital national collection. This might include:
Access to funding and community support
Expand access to funding and explore ways to support GLAMs who are not RCIs or IROs, particularly the UK’s small- and medium-sized GLAMs with collections that will remain inaccessible without funding support. For example, this might be facilitated through a community partner programme focused on pairing less-resourced GLAMs with more-resourced GLAMs to exchange knowledge around rights and collections management, as well as smaller institutional needs around open GLAM that should be shaping larger institutional projects to improve scalability and translation across the sector.
Future infrastructure and a programme for open access support
Comprehensive and long-term support could be embedded into the TaNC programme as it grows, which can be supported and extended by a range of UK funding bodies and associations and made available to the wider GLAM sector.
Employ someone to provide centralised support
Regardless of how (or by whom) this person is employed, a centralised person who has knowledge of GLAMs, their projects, what technologies are being used, and who can help problem solve across this programme and others would be an invaluable resource.
Capacity building through tailored approaches
Rather than broad training sessions on all things copyright, a programme should focus on capacity building and increasing copyright expertise through involvement in and support of projects.
Support with communication and understanding rights
Better communication earlier on will support rights discussions that result in greater understanding of open access and its benefits. This will also improve understandings of risk management aspects, including what risks GLAMs should expect to bear.
Publishing templates and outputs for wider reuse
Outputs produced might include contract templates, data collaboration agreements, checklists and
