Re-use of public sector information in cultural heritage institutions

Abstract

In 2013 the European Union amended the Directive on Public SectorInformation, establishing the principle that all available informationproduced and collected by public sector institutions must be madeavailable for reuse under open terms and conditions. The amendedDirective also brings publicly funded libraries, museums and archivesinto its scope. These new rules on reuse of heritage materials, treatedas public sector information (PSI), attempt for the first time to define ageneral framework for sharing cultural heritage information all aroundEurope. In this paper we argue that if Member States are not careful,the implementation of the changes required by the new Directivecould do more harm than good when it comes to access to digitisedcultural heritage in Europe. These concerns relate to how the directiveinteracts with copyright legislation. The paper recommends that inorder to contribute to the opening up of cultural heritage resources,Member States should ensure that all qualifying documents that arenot currently covered by third party intellectual property rights fallwithin the scope of the Directive. Member States should alsoimplement the Directive in a way that will not require institutions tocharge for the reuse of works that they make available for reuse. Fordocuments that are still protected by intellectual property rights butwhere these rights are held by the cultural heritage institutions,Member States should encourage the use of Open Definition-compliant licences.