Monthly Archives: June 2020

Opening of digital reproductions of collections for commercial use, an interview with José Luis Bueren Gómez-Acebo, deputy director of the national library of Spain

At the end of April 2020, the National Library of Spain announced that it will allow free commercial use of its digital images. IFLA is delighted to welcome deputy-director of this institution, José Luis Bueren Gómez-Acebo, to tell us more about this new project!

Could you please tell us about your institution and its work with digital collections?

The National Library of Spain (BNE), as many other libraries, has been working with digital collections from the beginning of the 21st century. In 2008 we launched our Biblioteca Digital Hispánica, as a single access point to our digital collections (10.000 titles at that time) and we started several digitization projects. Since then, we have been developing different strategies to promote the use and reuse of these collections. Social media, interactive books, digital exhibitions… In 2017 we made public BNELab to put together some of these initiatives and to develop, around this laboratory, different projects in order to promote reuse. We have published all our metadata in open standards, we have developed a linked open data catalog (datos.bne.es), we have also launched a crowdsourcing platform (Comunidad BNE) a project dedicated to the young students (BNEscolar) and published around one thousand public domain books in epub, free of charge.

To draw the hole picture of our digital collections I should also mention that in these years we have also started to preserve born digital collections. We are already keeping part of the “.es” domain and thousands of digital publications.

The announcement of the decision to open these collections for commercial purposes was very positively received by the OpenGLAM community, could you explain the context of this decision and what are the reasons that led you to develop this project?

As I have just summarized, in the BNE we have been making great efforts to digitize and promote use and reuse of our collections. In the past years we had taken several decisions to facilitate use and reuse of our collections (making easier and cheaper the obtention of images and public use) with very good results in terms of use of our collections. The possibility of allowing commercial use has been under discussion all this time but it is not a minor questions as there are some important issues involved. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic we have finally thought that this measure could be a way to help cultural industries to develop new projects or, if not new, to low a barrier to some more “traditional” such as facsimiles editions.

This announcement made, your institution and your teams commit to implementing this policy, what would be the first steps ?

There is a bureaucratic process until the decision is finally official and after that there is not really much work to do (apart from changing watermarks or the information in our website). Indeed, not charging any use simplifies our procedures as we don’t need to process these requests. Beyond this, we would like to deepen the reuse strategy by approaching new users communities. In the medium term we would like to be able to offer directly in our digital library the high resolution images (right now the user needs to request it to the library and, although public use will be free we need to charge a small amount for the image supply). This does not apply to the images available in our digital library: they can be freely downloaded and used.

What would you recommend to small or medium-sized libraries who would also like to get involved in this type of project?

I am very cautious giving advice as each institution has its own context. In general I would encourage them to make a decided commitment with the promotion of use and reuse.

In my view, this vision leads quite naturally to a process of opening licences. But I also think this has to be done not just as a fad but as a serious internal strategy in which not only digital collections but all the activities of the library has to be involved.

 

Library Stat of the Week #22: Where there are more public and community libraries, foreign-born, foreign-language migrants experience a smaller literacy gap compared to native-born, native-language peers

In our Library Stat of the Week mini-series on libraries and equality, we have looked so far at economic inequality, educational equality, and gender equality.

Through different blogs, we’ve explored the interaction between these and numbers of public and community libraries and librarians.

One factor which all too often correlates with poorer outcomes is immigrant status. In addition to difficulty in getting used to a new culture and language, or trying to get qualifications recognised, they can also face discrimination in different dimensions of life.

There are various ways in which libraries can help, from helping newcomers to feel at home and promoting tolerance and inclusion more broadly in society. A crucial way they can make a difference is by supporting literacy by helping newcomers.

To do this, we can use data from the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC), which assesses literacy, numeracy and problem-solving capabilities. In carrying this out, the OECD also collected data about whether respondents were native- or foreign-born, and whether they spoke the primary native or another language as a mother tongue.

We crossed this data with numbers of public and community libraries and librarians (and related staff) from IFLA’s Library Map of the World.

Public/Community Libraries and Library Workers vs the gap in average literacy scores between native-born and foreign-born adults

In a first step, we looked at the ‘gap’ between average literacy scores between native- and foreign-born adults, as shown in Graph 1.

Each dot represents a country for which data is available, with higher scores on the vertical (Y) axis indicating a wider gap (and so worse outcomes for foreign-born adults compared to native-born ones. Figures for the gap are adjusted to control for age, gender and educational level.

The results are relatively inconclusive, with little correlation between numbers of public and community libraries and library workers, and the gap.

However, this is to forget that in many cases, a large share of immigrants come from countries where the native language is the same, or at least where the language of the welcoming country is common.

Public/Community Libraries and Library Workers vs the gap in average literacy scores between native-born/native-language and foreign-born/foreign-language adults

In Graph 2, we can address this by looking at the gap between native-born, native-language adults, and foreign-born, foreign-language adults. The difference is significant, with a much stronger correlation between greater numbers of public and community libraries and smaller gaps.

 

Indeed, for every 10 extra libraries per 100 000 people, the gap in literacy falls by 5.82 points on the PIAAC scale. There is a less obvious correlation with the number of librarians.

 

 

As is always noted in this series, there is a difference between correlation and causality, and this analysis does not make it possible to assess what other factors may be at play. As ever, more libraries (and librarians) may be a symptom of a society that has invested more in general in integration and inclusion.

 

It is nonetheless the case that where there are more public and community libraries, foreign-born, foreign-language migrants tend to face less of a disadvantage in literacy levels compared to native-born, native-language adults.

 

This could be explained by the possibility that libraries offer to develop language skills, either simply through access to books, or through programming (although the fact of no correlation with the number of librarians may weaken this point).

 

The fact of much weaker correlation in Graph 1 does at least underline that the potential of libraries as drivers of inclusion in general, beyond language, is not being realised. This is certainly an area where more can be done.

 

Find out more on the Library Map of the World, where you can download key library data in order to carry out your own analysis! See our other Library Stats of the Week! We are happy to share the data that supported this analysis on request.

Preservation of Heritage: Article 6 of the EU-DSM by Renata Petrušić

Renata Petrušić, senior librarian at the Croatian Digital Library Development Centre of the Croatian Institute for Librarianship, National and University Library in Zagreb. Responsible for copyright and licencing issues, access and rights management.

1. Can you explain to us what article 6 of the EU-DSM Directive contains?

Article 6 refers to the preservation of cultural heritage. It contains a mandatory exception that allows cultural heritage institutions to make, in any format or medium, preservation copies of all works that they have permanently in their collections.

Recitals 25-29 of the EU-DSM Directive provide details of the scope and objective of Article 6. They state that, in order to achieve preservation goals, cultural heritage institution are allowed to establish cross-border preservation networks, enabling cross-border cooperation and sharing of means of preservation. Recital 29 provides a broad definition of works that are considered to be permanently in the collection of a cultural heritage institution, including works that are “result of a transfer of ownership or a licence agreement, legal deposit obligations or permanent custody arrangements”. In addition, Article 7 stipulates that contractual provision contrary to the exceptions are unenforceable and that technological protection measures should not prevent the creation of preservation copies.

2. Why is this provision important to libraries?

Ensuring the preservation and accessibility of works from their collections for this and future generations have always been the fundamental mission of libraries. In order to achieve this mission, libraries and other cultural heritage institutions need a clear legal framework adapted to the digital age. It is essential to have legislation that allows libraries to take all necessary steps in order to carry out their duties and fulfil a public purpose.

Given that under copyright law, authors have the exclusive right of reproduction, it is crucial to have an exemption to copyright protection which allows libraries to make preservation copies of works without the need to seek permission from the copyright holder. Such an exemption must apply to all types of works or another subject-matter that libraries own or permanently have in their collections, to all formats and media. It is particularly important to emphasize that technical protection measures and contractual provisions must not affect the possibility of making preservation copies.

Although most European countries already have legal provisions that allow acts of reproduction for preservation incorporated in their national laws, inconsistency in the current legal provisions of  EU Member States brings legal uncertainty to preservation efforts carried out by cultural heritage institutions and their partners. Not all libraries have the technical resources and required expertise to carry out preservation programmes and they in that regard need to rely on external contractors and partners. The new mandatory exception will harmonize this exception across the EU, allowing libraries to cooperate across borders, use preservation networks and work with third parties when making preservation copies.

3. What is the best implementation Libraries could hope for with this article?

The provisions of Article 6 are a welcome addition to European legislation ensuring the improvement and harmonisation of exceptions relating to the preservation of cultural heritage throughout the EU. The adoption of the provisions of Article 6 and the definitions in the Recitals as they are set out in the Directive, would ensure that libraries are allowed to:

make preservation copies of all the works from their collections (by the appropriate preservation tool, means or technology, in any format or medium, in the required number, at any point in the life of a work),

– cooperate cross-border,

– share the means of preservation,

– rely on third parties for the making of copies,

– establish cross-border preservation networks,

– make sure that contractual provisions and technological protection measures do not prevent preservation of works.

However, it is possible to go beyond what is set out in the Directive. Ideally, broader exceptions would include permission to make copies of works for all internal uses in libraries, such as indexing and cataloguing, and other activities necessary for management of collection.

4. What is your government’s position on the issue?

Croatia is one of the first EU Member States to introduce a proposal of the transposition of the EU-DSM Directive into national law. A public consultation on the Draft Proposal on Copyright and Related Rights Act was conducted from April to May 2020. The proposed Bill received more than 730 comments. The government is now in the process of preparing a report on the consultation.

The current Croatian Copyright and Related Rights Act includes an exception benefiting cultural heritage institutions to reproduce copyrighted works from their own copy to any media for the purposes of preservation and safeguarding.

The new proposal of the Croatian Copyright and Related Rights Act implements the provisions of Article 6 as they are prescribed by the Directive. Article 182 of the proposed Croatian Copyright Law closely follows the wording of  Article 6, stating that “cultural heritage institutions […] are authorized, without the approval of the right holder and without payment of remuneration, to reproduce copyrighted works and related rights that are a permanent part of their collections, in any format or on any medium, for the purpose of their preservation and to the extent necessary for that purpose”. The same article also states that contractual provisions that are contrary to this exception are null and void, and defines the types of works that are considered to be part of the collections of cultural heritage institutions (as they are defined in Recital 29 of the Directive).

Importantly, proposed Croatian Law has retained the provisions of the current law that go beyond what is allowed in Article 6 of the Directive. Article 184 of the proposed Croatian Law, which refers to exceptions of the reproduction rights, for benefit of particular institutions, states that cultural heritage institutions “may, without the authorisation of the right holder and without payment of remuneration, reproduce a copyrighted work or another subject-matter […], on any medium, for their special needs that are in accordance with their public purposes, such as the needs of preservation and safeguarding of the materials, technical restoration and reparation of the materials, collection management and other own needs, if not acquiring thereby any direct or indirect commercial benefit”.

 

 

 

Text and Data Mining: (Articles 3 and 4 of the EU-DSM) by REBIUN’s Copyright working group

The Copyright working group of REBIUN (the network of university libraries in Spain) is formed of Silvia Losa, as coordinator of the group, and librarian in the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Paloma Jarque, librarian in the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, Rosa Mª Sánchez, librarian in UNED, and Patricia Sanpera, librarian in the Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Barcelona. The group studies topics of interest on copyright for university libraries in Spain. We are currently monitoring the transposition process to guide REBIUN in the actions to be carried out in order to get legislation in line with the interests of libraries.

  1. Can you explain to us what Articles 3-4 of the EU-DSM Directive are?

Articles 3-4 of the DSM Directive introduce two exceptions to copyright for text and data mining.

Text and data mining (TDM) is defined as “any automated analytical technique aimed at analysing text and data in digital form in order to generate information which includes but is not limited to patterns, trends and correlations”.

Article 3 focuses on text and data mining for the purposes of scientific research.

The article covers the reproduction, and extraction from databases, made by research organisations and cultural heritage institutions (and their members) but only for scientific research purposes. It also covers the storage and retention of copies, for the same purposes, including the verification of research results.

A cultural heritage institution includes “publicly accessible library or museum, an archive or a film or audio heritage institution”. Art. 2(3)

Research organisations are basically not-for-profit entities or entities tasked by a Member State with a public service research mission, according to art. 2(1).

The exception covers text and data mining of “works or other subject matter to which they have lawful access”. That means all the collections of institutions like libraries but also those contents freely available online.

This exception is not subject to remuneration (recital no. 17) and is protected against contract override. Art. 7(1)

Rightholders may establish measures to ensure the security of their systems but they should not prevent the application of the exception. Copies generated by text and data mining should be stored securely. Member States may regulate both aspects after negotiation with stakeholders (including, therefore, libraries).

 

Article 4 allows acts of “reproductions and extractions of lawfully accessible works and other subject matter for the purposes of text and data mining”.

Text and data mining can be done for any purpose and the reproductions “may be retained as long as necessary for the purposes of text and data mining.” Art. 4(2)

The exception benefits all kind of users, institutions or individuals, who have lawful access to contents. That means all the collections of the organisation but also the open web.

This exception, unlike the previous one, can be overridden by contract.

According to art. 4(3) “the exception or limitation shall apply on condition that the use of works […] has not been expressly reserved by their rightholders in an appropriate manner, such as machine-readable means in the case of content made publicly available online”.

 

  1. Why are these items important to libraries?

An exception for ‘text and data mining’, TDM, as stated in articles 3 and 4 of the EU-DSM Directive, grants libraries the right to mine in copyright works to which they have lawful access.

Text and data mining, TDM, is important for research and academic libraries because this exception allows them to support researchers and other legitimate users from different disciplines to undertake data mining. This support includes giving them access to legally accessed materials, not only on-site but remotely, and with the right to keep secure copies.

There are some aspects of the activity of libraries that can be closely related to text and data mining.

Libraries are supporters of Open Science, as they do with their institutional repositories. Open Science, including, inter alia, open access, open data, and FAIR data, is a loyal friend for TDM. With such a friend, researchers and other legitimate users will successfully carry out automated text and data analysis. Open Science is based on the possibility of checking out researchers’ methods and data. Without the opportunity to look at the datasets used for analysis, other researchers cannot confirm, or disapprove, findings, undermining overall scientific progress.

Libraries are used to work together with IT and Legal Departments. For the sake of an ideal use of the exception in favour of researchers and other legitimate users, libraries can help TDM workflows and infrastructures to be applied and developed.

As beneficiaries of the exception, and as advocates of researchers and other legitimate users from their institutions, libraries can have the necessary power when negotiating with publishers, so the right to mine is not overridden by contracts, and no additional information about the research is requested by publishers. And, as well, ensuring that any technical issues or access-blocking experienced by the institution are resolved quickly. Libraries pay for subscriptions to academic publications, there is no need to pay again to text and data mine contents already subscribed.

Furthermore, with a TDM exception libraries could, in short terms:

–       Perform TDM without requirement to inform or seek permission from publishers

–       Remove or ignore contractual provisions in licenses in conflict with TDM

–       Promote actions (including legal action) if access is blocked and not quickly resolved by the publisher

–       Protect personal data and privacy of researchers and other legitimate users from publisher requests for further information about TDM activities

 

  1. What is the best implementation you could hope for with these articles?

In short, our aspiration would be that the legal text allows the maximum use of text and data mining techniques for research purposes, and also to the legitimate users; with the only limitation that such uses do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the works and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the rightholders.

Specifically, we believe that there are a number of issues that it is important to incorporate or clarify in the law:

Data mining exception should allow acts affecting the right of transformation. It is not always clear when the use of these techniques can affect this right, so the express inclusion of this right would create legal certainty for researchers and legitimate users.

Public communication should also be allowed to enable researchers to carry out text and data mining activities where they have better tools for this, through a remote controlled system. That would prevent them from having to move, for example, to library facilities in order to analyse digitisations of their collections.

It should also ensure that the application of the exception entails the possibility of disseminating the results generated by it provided that such dissemination does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.

With regard to libraries and other cultural heritage institutions, the law should specify that they may use the exception of article 3 to conduct research in the context of their main activities. A restrictive interpretation of the concept of scientific research will make the exception useless for our institutions.

The storage of copies generated by the mining of text and data should be made where the researcher or the legitimate users choose, provided that they are protected against unauthorized access. Moreover, imposing different storage conditions in each European country may be an impediment to the development of cross-border projects.

It must be ensured also that, in the case of technological protection measures, the beneficiaries of the exception may have an extraordinary remedy requiring rightholders, or their intermediaries, to lift such mechanisms within a maximum of 72 hours, including financial penalties in case of non-compliance, where appropriate.

Since the exception (both exceptions of article 3 and 4) should not be subject to fair compensation, it should be ensured that suppliers of works and services do not impose a higher price on their subscription to enable text and data mining activities.

Finally, regarding specifically article 4, and according to the EU-DSM Directive, the law should also ensure that in cases of accessible resources that have been made publicly available online, rightholders can only object to the exception through the use of machine-readable means; otherwise the exception will become useless, as a manual review of terms of use and legal notices of websites cannot be intended.

  1. What is your government’s position on the issue?

We have no information about this aspect at the moment. The government launched a public consultation on December 2019 but they did not expose any kind of explanation or clarification on the positions of the government regarding the transposition of the EU-DSM. As far as we know (https://www.notion.so/Spain-64ff430a3fec4ed2a17895bd82ceb6e8), they will probably publish a draft of the legislative text when the State of Alarm ends.

 

Knowing Our Histories: Moving Forward by Looking Back

We live in an age that has no shortage of information.

Watching any current event unfold in real time means juggling input from all sides. We receive information from journalists on the ground, pundits in newsrooms, television personalities, op-ed contributors, Twitter hashtags, video clips, photos, and word of mouth.

We see how, in their retelling, events get moulded and changed – we see the politicisation of information.

This is evidence of the need for media and information literacy to inform critical thinking skills.

It is also evidence of the crucial importance of primary sources.  This refers to materials that document first-hand the lived experiences of the past, and that preserve those of today.

We need both – access to the primary sources and information literacy to be able to put them into past and present context – to take informed steps forward.

In light of recent events in the United States, and their reverberations around the world, this is incredibly urgent.

Therefore, on International Archives Day (9 June), let’s explore the power of the primary source in giving voice to the historically voiceless, and informing the journey towards more equitable societies.

Archives and Society

As memory institutions, the missions of archives and libraries are closely tied: we empower knowledge societies.

Knowledge Societies

UNESCO asserts that knowledge societies “have the potential to achieve lasting, positive impacts on education, economic prosperity, social inclusion and environmental protection, taking humanity forward to a new era of peace and sustainable development”.

To take a step toward towards this new era, we need to use the information available to us to examine our current societies.

Looking at the testimonies of the past will help us know how we got here. They help us understand that current events do not unfold in a vacuum. They allow us to recognise that the societies in which we find ourselves are the output of the decisions and actions of those who came before us.

The International Council on Archives (ICA) states: “The archival heritage is a valuable testimony about the economical, political and social development of humanity”.

We need this economic, political, and social context in order to better understand the systems we live in. We need it to recognise our relative power, and to use this knowledge to work towards making those systems more equitable.

The Perspectives of Heritage

History is often is painful. The heritage objects and places linked to these histories, as they are presented, can have a darker side, a side that is not immediately visible.

But just because it is uncomfortable does not mean it should go unexamined.

This area of heritage study is beginning to be referred to by some as contested heritage. It is the acknowledgment that some cultural heritage came at the cost of great pain. The approach to talking about this cultural heritage, the perspectives that are included in the narrative, and the way its existence continues to effect society today, must be reckoned with.

An important example is the acknowledgement of the role of colonialism in European history and cultural heritage. It is recognising that, although not always apparent on the surface, exploitation is an inescapably part of the story of some cultural places and objects.

Part of the solution lies in telling the complete story, and doing so in a polyvocal, participatory and self-reflective way. This is where we need primary sources.

For those people and communities that were voiceless, archives of their diaries, letters, personal artifacts, and images, as well as municipal records of their marginalisation, give glimpses to the other side of the story.

We will not understand society and our place in it until our shared history, our contested heritage, is examined. This is not possible unless we ensure the historically voiceless are heard.

 

Archives for Empowerment

Roots are important. Representation in the historical record is important. Disenfranchisement begins with denial of any individual’s or group’s claim to their history, with the erasure of their past.

The foundation for rights and identity

ICA identifies one of the goals for International Archives Day as being to:

Raise awareness among the public of the importance of records and archives, in order to make it understood that records and archives provide the foundation for their rights and identity.

Beyond simply showing the foundations of our societal structures, this knowledge informs our identity – how we view ourselves in society.

They allow us to answer the crucial question: How have past events constructed the society I live in now? What evidence can I find from the past to better inform myself of this?

More than this, however, accessing and listening to the history of another person or group may change the way we understand how they view themselves in society. It can build empathy; it can oppose racism. For historically marginalised groups, this is more important than ever. A failure to listen and reflect can perpetuate or reinforce exclusion.

Knowledge is Power

Who wrote the history books we studied in school? Who wrote the books available in our libraries’ collections? Could this be more inclusive?

Part of the disenfranchisement of historically marginalised communities was the frequent omission of their perspective from the historical record.

Archives offer us access to the stories that the official record sometimes left out.

The Dutch-based initiative The Black Archives seeks to inspire conversations, activities and literature from Black and other perspectives that are often overlooked. The organisation has amassed a large collection of resources giving these perspectives:

The approximately 3000 books in the collections focus on racism and race issues, slavery and (the) colonization, gender and feminism, social sciences and development, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, South America, Africa and more. As a result, The Black Archives provides book collections and literature which are not or little discussed in schools and within universities.

For this organisation and others like it around the world, there is power in this knowledge. Collecting archives from the silenced past is a form of empowerment – it is taking back the historical record and giving a voice to those who were not included.

Documentary heritage, books, writings, and archival material make this possible.

For examples of this, take a look at our past article, Shared Stories: how documentary heritage enriches monuments and sites.

With current events a stark reminder of how present racism and discrimination continue to be in our societies, there is a clear mission for archivists and other documentary heritage professionals. As the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience said in a recent statement:

 As historians, survivors, activists, artists, and archivists, the Coalition knows that the inequities of the past permeate the present and will devastate the future unless we act to build a better alternative. This may feel daunting, but with the light of history and the love and compassion we seed in telling each other our stories, we can shape a future rooted in our shared humanity, in dignity and justice.

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To end, let’s bring it back to the mission of archives and libraries: to empower knowledge societies.

What can we, as library and information professionals, do to transform the information in these primary sources into knowledge? Meaning, how can we help society look to stories from the past, especially the painful ones, and use them to self-reflect, learn, grow, and create a more equitable future for all people? What within our power can we do to make society more equitable than it was in the past?

Resources

Here is a list of some initiatives and organisation working in this space. It is certainly not exhaustive, so please share more in the comments.

The 10-Minute International Librarian #3: Think of a success… and share it!

If you’re working in a busy library, it can often be difficult to take a step back.

There are too many short-term priorities, urgent things needing fixing or addressing to be able to take the time to think back.

But it’s important to do so, both in order to feel pride in a job well done, and in order to learn for the future.

As part of a global field, there is also so much to learn from other people, facing similar challenges, trying to find effective solutions.

So for our 3rd 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, think of a success and share it!

The most interesting examples are the ones where you have faced difficult situations, and where you have had to be innovative in order to succeed. Try to evaluate what the key factors in this were.

This can help you – and others – learn useful lessons for the future!

Share your stories on social media, in the comments to this blog, or through your own blog or newsletters, so that others can read about what you’ve done.

Good luck!

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Strategic Direction 3, Key Initiative 2: Support virtual networking and connections

 

As we publish more ideas, you will be able to view these using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box.

There is a Place for Everyone in Climate Action

The UN is focussing this year’s World Environment Day (5 June) on biodiversity, and the close link between it and human well-being. As the official website underlines, biodiversity – maintaining the widest possible range of forms of life on earth – brings major benefits to humanity. It does this because human life is still fundamentally interconnected with our environment as part of a complex ecosystem.

This ecosystem includes the many relationships of humans to the environment. It includes the links between climate, individuals, industry, and government. In fact, it is the connection between all of the earth’s life and resources. This interdependence, these links, means reliance on one another.

It follows that changes in other parts of this ecosystem can have a real impact on us – not least in the form of the Coronavirus pandemic, or locust infestations, both of which are arguably facilitated by biodiversity loss. A key driver of change in this ecosystem today, and one that is intricately linked with biodiversity, is climate change.

In this blog post for World Environment Day, I would therefore like to discuss interdependence, and where the LIS field and documentary heritage practice fit in.

 

Culture and the Environment

The environment has moulded human society and culture for thousands of years. We are inextricably tied to it, and so, environmental hazards are also threats to culture. Historically, freak weather, volcanic and earthquake activity, combined with long-term evolutions in temperatures have all had an impact on our cultures.

However now, we are facing the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. In other words, environmental threats are human threats, and therefore require finding human solutions.

Culture under threat

IFLA recently provided responses to a request from the UN Special Rapporteur for Cultural Rights in which we discussed the threats, challenges and opportunities associated with documentary cultural heritage and climate change.

When looking for the link between documentary heritage and climate change, here are just some things to begin thinking about:

  • Fires, flooding, high heat and humidity, severe storms, and resulting power loss all threaten memory institutions which store movable heritage. Developing nations, marginalized communities, and Small Island Developing States are at the most immediate risk.
  • Primary sources of documentary heritage are often delicate, requiring sensitive care to preserve, and are at risk of degradation over time. This threat is exacerbated by rising temperatures and the increased severity of natural disasters and storms.
  • We are likely to see increased numbers of refugees due to climate change, leading to a greater risk of loss, especially concerning the stories and histories of marginalised communities, just as we already see in the case of refugees fleeing conflict and natural disaster. Loss of these stories is a loss for humankind. The work of documentary heritage professionals is essential for allowing us to access the lives, stories, and histories of communities.

It is easy to be overwhelmed and feel that adapting to climate change is more at home in another sector, a duty for other professionals. However, climate action will take all of us, the global library field, cultural and memory institutions included.

Crucially, libraries do not need just to be victims of the effects of climate change, but also vectors of change. We do not only have a duty to contribute to wider efforts to reduce emissions, but can be at the heart of the drive to raise ambition globally, and help the world adapt.

Libraries, Documentary Heritage and Climate Action

There are concrete actions that LIS professionals can take. In addition to leading by example and ensuring that buildings and techniques are low emission, libraries can also help shape opinion and so drive commitment.

A great tool and source of inspiration for this is ICOMOS’s report The Futures of Our Past (2019), which discusses how to engage the cultural sector in climate action, and which has provided the basis for a shorter IFLA overview.

Below we suggest some aspects of librarianship that can impact climate action. You are welcome to share other ideas in the comments.

Bringing climate change home to people

A key action set out in the ICOMOS report is the possibility to highlight the effects of climate change on cultural heritage itself as a means of bringing this to life for the public. Buildings damaged, collections lost or subject to decay, and disappeared cultures are tragic, powerful testimonies to the reality of what is happening.

In other words, libraries and other heritage institutions can humanise scientific data by putting it into people-centred and culturally sensitive terms that everyone can understand. We can learn from the past and put that knowledge into action.

Access to information and Information Literacy

Libraries, information services, and conservation and preservation practitioners provide access to information and cultural resources that can inform research and practice, raise awareness and ease understanding.

Climate data, maps, agriculture and irrigation practices, evidence of traditional economies, and indigenous knowledge are all available to us through the collection, documentation, preservation cataloguing, sharing and provision of access to information. LIS professionals and archivists are essential for this.

Moreover, being able to think critically is the best way to combat the deluge of fake news surrounding the topic of climate change. Literacy, both traditional and digital, are key to the informed, participatory societies we will need to enact change.

Digitisation

Digitisation and secure storage of digitised heritage materials are key ways for libraries to preserve materials at risk due to climate change or other threats. Beyond digitising this heritage, providing access to in and education on it is also critical in ensuring that the knowledge held within is interpreted and applied.

The threat to the world’s documentary heritage posed by climate change should be a catalyst for more systematic document preservation and sharing.  Further, there is an urgent need to advocate for international action on copyright, to ensure that libraries globally are able to preserve the works in their collections, including across borders.

Sharing good practice

Having an impact also means looking to others within the profession and sharing ideas on how to make small difference within your own institution. For example, IFLA’s Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Special Interest Group connects professionals from across the library field and around the world to:

  • Address the effects of climate change on libraries
  • discuss applications of environment-friendly practices in libraries
  • propose environmental recommendations for the profession
  • promote sustainability-related library resources and services
  • increase librarians’ own awareness of environmental concerns.

The group has published a number of tools on their webpage that are a great starting-point when exploring what actions you can take to help make a difference.

IFLA is also proud to be a founding member of the Climate Heritage Network (CHN), launched in 2019, which strives to be a leader at the intersection of climate action, culture and cultural rights. The goal is to reach arts, culture and heritage actors and advocates who can use their expertise and talents towards mobilising for climate action.

IFLA is currently working with the CHN on actions concerning advocacy, awareness-raising, and impactful communication on the role of culture in climate action. We are working to find a common language to communicate on culture’s role in climate action, both to our peers in the cultural field and those in other sectors working on climate-related concerns.

The human right to participate in cultural life, and the protection of our cultural property, are interdependent on the environment, and are at risk of being negatively impacted. Our profession, and all professions, are linked to this work.

We all have a place

Climate action is not only for politicians. It is not only for scientists, leaders of industry, budget-holders, and decision makers.

We are all linked, and the effectiveness of climate action will be the result of the interdependent actions of us all.

In order to make an impact, there need to be cross-sectoral approaches to finding solutions – where all voices are heard and new approaches (both innovative and looking to traditional knowledge) are considered.

Connecting people with information and education, promoting media and digital literacy, counteracting deliberate misinformation, preserving, digitising and providing access to our cultural resources are all ways LIS and heritage professionals can take climate action.

Interdependence means reliance on one another. Our profession is not only reliant on climate action, it is part of it.