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Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Home Page
On January 5, 2009 the Max Plank Institute for the History of Science published a document titled Best Practices for Access to Images: Recommendations for Scholarly Use and Publishing. To my ears it reads far more like a thoughtful manifesto than a statement of best practices. But perhaps these two things are just a matter of degree.
This short document was the end product of a year long process initiated by the Institute, which “brought together a small group of scholars, curators, publishers, and other stakeholders” to reflect on the difficulties faced by scholars in obtaining access to the visual materials which are increasing essential to their work and yet soaring in price, due to a variety of factors including the “for-profit approach to digital cultural heritage,” the “fear of abuse and theft” of these works by curators, and by often improper reliance on claims of copyright by institutional owners of unique works.
As summarized by Christine von Oertzen in her article New Ways of Using Digital Images Recommendations Concerning the Free Use of Visual Media for Scholarly Purposes:
The document calls upon curators and scholars to enter into a new relationship to promote mutual trust and common interests. The aim of our compact is to address the pressing challenges raised by our digital present and future. We request that curators refrain from arbitrarily restricting the public domain. We further ask our colleagues in libraries, museums, and other repositories to accommodate the needs of scholars for freely accessible, high-resolution digital images. This request concerns not only print publications, but also new forms of electronic publishing. We exhort scholars in the humanities to respect the special custodial responsibility of museums, libraries, and other image repositories. In particular, we insist that careful attention to attribution must become part of each scholar’s contribution to a relationship based on trust and mutual benefit.
She makes the key point succinctly: [click to continue…]
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