Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g78kv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T21:41:50.684Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Developing open licensing at the National Library of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2018

Gill Hamilton
Affiliation:
Digital Access Manager at the National Library of Scotland
Fred Saunderson
Affiliation:
Intellectual Property Specialist at the National Library of Scotland
Get access

Summary

Introduction

From unplanned, somewhat opportunistic beginnings, the National Library of Scotland has been openly licensing resources since 2008. The Library's approach to open licensing has taken a more strategic and considered direction since 2014 by developing structured policies and procedures. In this case study we examine this, from the Library's early openness steps driven primarily by external factors to the Library's more recent approaches to being open, which derive from greater internal drivers while continuing to be informed and inspired by external developments. We argue that this development process demonstrates how, even when setting out initially with no openness plan, cultural heritage organisations can develop open approaches and use open licences successfully.

Exploring external drivers

The National Library of Scotland's earliest use of open licences begins with the web. The Library's first website was developed in the mid-1990s, driven by the potential to reach a larger, more diverse audience. Mainly text-based, this first website iteration had only a few images, including the Library's logo and a few of the Library's treasured collection items.

This lack of imagery was not unusual for the time. Expensive, low-resolution (compared with today) digital cameras were in their infancy and just being introduced to the non-professional market. Tools to manipulate digital images were basic. Domestic connection speeds were slow, between 28 and 56 kilobytes per second, more than 1000 times slower than the fibre speeds (up to 76 megabytes per second) we are familiar with today, so users were likely to be dissuaded by image and data-rich websites.

All text and images on this first website iteration were marked ‘© Copyright Trustees of the National Library of Scotland’. Open licensing, largely limited at this time to the software industry, was not considered. Easily accessible, publicfocused, generic open licences, such as Creative Commons licences, were not yet available. This type of ‘all rights reserved’ copyright notice was used less by design and more by default: there were no real alternatives, nor was the intellectual openness of this nascent communication channel high on the organisational agenda.

Digitisation efforts at the Library commenced around this time, progressing in an ad hoc manner with basic scanners and digital camera equipment. The initial aim of this work was to create images for the website and for exhibitions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Facet
Print publication year: 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×