Digital Rights for Libraries

Our Future Memory continues to strengthen its voice in the academic world with major support from Irish institutions.

Internet Archive Europe is proud to announce that two more prestigious academic bodies have signed the Statement on the Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions. These endorsements add critical weight to the call for a future in which libraries and universities can continue their mission of preservation and access in the digital age.

Our newest Irish signatories are:

• The Irish Research e-Library (IReL)
• The University of Galway

They join a rapidly expanding coalition of more than forty umbrella organisations and institutions worldwide that have endorsed the Four Rights: the Right to Collect, the Right to Preserve, the Right to Lend, and the Right to Cooperate.

University of Galway

The institutional support for this campaign has been endorsed by the Academic Council of the University of Galway.

Recognising the vital link between historical preservation and future learning, the University emphasised the necessity of these rights for the academic community. As stated in their endorsement:

“The University of Galway Library is proud to preserve and make accessible the scholarly and cultural record of centuries past. We are very concerned about any limitations to our ability to guarantee the preservation and accessibility of content produced today for scholars and learners of the future. We therefore whole-heartedly endorse the protection of our Digital Rights and the Our Future Memory campaign.”

Irish Research e-Library (IReL)

The Governance Committee of the Irish Research e-Library (IReL), a major nationally funded consortium, has also given its support to the Statement.

A copy of the statement was formally signed by the IReL Chair, Prof. Eeva Leinonen. This endorsement signals a strong commitment from Irish research infrastructure to ensure that digital content remains accessible and preserved for the long term, as emphasised below:

“As a national shared service providing access to digital information resources to students and researchers across Ireland, IReL is keenly aware of the precarious nature of information access in the digital world. The four rights outlined in Our Future Memory are essential if we are to work collectively to ensure access to scientific knowledge for future generations.”

A United Front for Digital Rights

These new signatures build upon recent momentum in Ireland, following the endorsement by the Irish Universities Association Librarians’ Group (IUALG).

Together, these voices demonstrate a shared understanding within the academic sector: the problems facing memory institutions in the digital age are urgent, and legal protections are required to keep preserving and providing access to our cultural record.

Join the Movement

🔗 Sign the Statement: https://ourfuturememory.org
📧 Contact the Campaign: campaigns@internetarchive.eu

Our future memory depends on the choices we make today.

Learn More

Informational Webinar on 27 January 2026

Join the Internet Archive and partners for “Protect Our Future Memory: Join the Call for Library Digital Rights,” a webinar introducing the movement.

• When: 27 January 2026 – 19:00 GMT+1/ 10:00 PT / 13:00 ET
• Duration: one hour
• Format: online
• Register here

Shop Talk @ the Ontario Library Association Conference on 30 January 2026

Discover the “4 Rights for Digital Libraries” at this 15-minute session at the OLA Conference in Ontario, Canada.

• When: 30 January 2026 
• Duration: 15 minutes
• Format: in person
• More info here

Podcast: Hear the Voices Behind the Movement

To explore the origins, urgency, and global significance of the Four Digital Rights, we encourage you to listen to the Future Knowledge podcast episode on this campaign. Featuring leaders from across the library, archive, and digital rights communities, the episode offers essential context on why these rights matter—and what’s at stake.

Our Future Memory continues to grow its global coalition defending memory institutions’ digital rights. Internet Archive Europe is proud to announce that three more organisations have signed the Statement on the Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions, adding more voices to the call for a future where libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions can continue their mission in the digital age.

Our newest signatories are:

• The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) – United States
• Irish Universities Association Librarians’ Group (IUALG) – Ireland
• Library Futures – United States

They join more than forty umbrella organisations and institutions worldwide that have endorsed the Four Rights: the Right to Collect, the Right to Preserve, the Right to Lend, and the Right to Cooperate.

Irish Universities Association Librarians’ Group – Ireland

The Irish Universities Association Librarians’ Group (IUALG), representing academic librarians across Ireland’s universities, brings a clear and urgent message about why these rights matter:

“The Irish Universities Association Librarians’ group is pleased to sign this statement. We, as academic librarians, affirm that people’s right to learn depends on libraries’ ability to collect, preserve, and provide access in the digital realm just as we have always done in the physical one. These principles are not aspirational; they are essential to safeguarding global knowledge for generations to come.”

Boston Library Consortium – United States

Representing twenty-six leading research libraries across New England, the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) strengthens the collective power of institutions committed to equitable access to knowledge.

As Executive Director Charlie Barlow states:

“BLC is proud to join institutions worldwide in defending our rights to collect, preserve, provide access, and cooperate. Libraries safeguard cultural memory—and online content shouldn’t be an exception.”

Library Futures – United States

Library Futures is a project of The Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU Law. Founded to build a more equitable digital future for libraries, Library Futures is a key advocate for balanced digital ecosystems and stronger public-interest infrastructures. Their endorsement reinforces the urgency behind securing the Four Rights for all memory institutions.

A Growing Global Movement

These endorsements continue a trend of rapid international alignment, including through translation initiatives ranging from French by the Internet Archive Canada to Papamiento and Dutch by the Biblioteca Nacional Aruba and Maarten Zeinstra from IP Squared.

Together, these voices demonstrate a shared understanding about the problems facing memory institutions in the digital age and the legal protections they need to keep preserving and providing access to our cultural record .

Join the Movement

🔗 Sign the Statement: https://ourfuturememory.org
📧 Contact the Campaign: campaigns@internetarchive.eu

Our future memory depends on the choices we make today.

Learn More

Informational Webinar on 27 January 2026

Join the Internet Archive and partners for “Protect Our Future Memory: Join the Call for Library Digital Rights,” a webinar introducing the movement.

• When: 27 January 2026 – 19:00 GMT+1/ 10:00 PT / 13:00 ET
• Duration: one hour
• Format: online
• Register here

Shop Talk @ the Ontario Library Association Conference on 30 January 2026

Discover the “4 Rights for Digital Libraries” at this 15-minute session at the OLA Conference in Ontario, Canada.

• When: 30 January 2026 
• Duration: 15 minutes
• Format: in person
• More info here

Podcast: Hear the Voices Behind the Movement

To explore the origins, urgency, and global significance of the Four Digital Rights, we encourage you to listen to the Future Knowledge podcast episode on this campaign. Featuring leaders from across the library, archive, and digital rights communities, the episode offers essential context on why these rights matter—and what’s at stake.

We’re pleased to announce that the Our Future Memory “4 Rights” statement has now been translated into Dutch and Papiamento, thanks to the generous work of Biblioteca Nacional Aruba and Maarten Zeinstra from IP Squared.

This is a wonderful moment of collaboration, and we extend our deepest gratitude to our partners for helping to spread this vital message. These translations enable the statement to reach more institutions, stakeholders, and decision-makers in Dutch- and Papiamento-speaking communities. You can read the newly translated versions and sign the statement at ourfuturememory.org.

Internet Archive Europe is now also a signatory to the “4 Rights” statement. “By endorsing the 4 Rights, we’re reaffirming that universal access to knowledge isn’t a slogan—it’s a shared responsibility. Achieving it requires clear rights, workable rules, and practical collaboration across borders,” said Tony Guepin, Board Member, Internet Archive Europe.

Voices from Aruba

Peter Scholing, Head of Digital Collections and Research: “In April of 2024, this statement was first signed in Oranjestad, Aruba, by memory institutions from Aruba and the rest of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. By making the Digital Rights Statement available in both Papiamento and Dutch we renew and confirm our commitment to universal access to information, and emphasize that we as memory institutions have an important role to play in this, by actively providing access to the digital and digitized information that is relevant and important to our communities and local audiences. It starts with (re)claiming our digital rights.”

Ichmarah Kock, Digital Collections and Information Management: “Heritage collections in Aruba are often fragile and scattered. When we at Aruba’s National Library digitize these collections, we are reminded that heritage does not belong to a single institution but to the people. The Digital Rights Statement ensures that everyone has the right to access, reuse, and reimagine our heritage without barriers.

Having the statement available in Papiamento is powerful because it shows that our rights to (digital) knowledge and culture are not abstract ideas, but part of our own language and our own way of seeing the world. With the Statement becoming available in Papiamento we also extend an invitation to other ‘lesser-known’ languages. They too deserve space and visibility, whether in physical or digital collections.

In my work, I see how digital collections come alive when the public engages with them. From old newspapers to photographs of daily life, each item we digitize is a piece of who we are. It is important that people can not only find digital information, but also trust that it remains free, open, and safe for future generations. The Digital Rights Statement ensures that these pieces remain accessible and guarantees that people in Aruba are not just users but co-creators of our future collective memory.”

Yorleny Oduber-Quesada, Information Specialist, Special and National Collections: “Papiamento represents both identity and dignity. To safeguard the future of our communities and the wider world, it is imperative that we secure the right to digital information for all people — without barriers of language or geography.” = In Papiamento: “Papiamento ta un idioma di identidad y dignidad. Pa proteha e futuro di nos comunidad y di mundo, nos mester garantisa derecho di acceso na informacion digital pa tur hende, sin limitacion di idioma of luga.”

Why Your Signature Truly Matters

You might think: “My national or regional federation has already signed this via IFLA or another body — do I still need to sign?” The answer is: yes. Here are a few reasons why:

• More signatures = stronger message
  When policymakers see a broad base of institutions — not just large federations — endorsing the statement, it sends a powerful signal that these rights matter on the ground, day in and day out.
• Local relevance & accountability
  Your institution’s signature shows that you, locally, accept these principles and expect them to be respected in your jurisdiction. It’s not just theoretical or distant; it’s part of your institutional agenda.
• Amplification and visibility
  Every additional signatory spreads awareness in its own network. That raises the chances that local ministries, cultural heritage bodies, funders, and legislators will pay attention.
• Diversity strengthens legitimacy
  When small, mid-sized, and large institutions from different countries and contexts sign, it demonstrates that the 4 Rights are relevant across many settings—not just for large institutions.

In short, whether your institution is large, small, national, local, specialized, or generalist — your voice adds weight.

1. Visit the Our Future Memory website at ourfuturememory.org and go to the “Sign the Statement” page.
2. Sign up your institution: Print the statement and sign it by hand or fill it in electronically using an Adobe-compatible tool and email it to campaigns@internetarchive.eu
3. Share the announcement via your communication channels: newsletters, social media, partner networks.

Let’s show the world that the future of memory is a cause that unites us all. Stand with us, add your name, and let’s make our call for change impossible to ignore.

Sign the Statement Today!

The global Our Future Memory campaign to secure digital rights for libraries, archives, and other memory institutions has gained another powerful ally.

Wikimedia, one of the world’s leading champions of free knowledge and open access, has signed the Statement on the Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions, joining a growing number of organizations worldwide that are calling for the legal rights needed to preserve and provide access to knowledge in the digital age.

This endorsement carries significant weight. Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata, are pillars of the digital knowledge ecosystem. Their commitment to the campaign underlines that safeguarding the rights of cultural and memory institutions is essential not just for professionals in the field, but for everyone who relies on free and open access to information.

“Wikimedia projects and memory institutions share a common mission: to provide access to the world’s knowledge and cultural heritage. Wikimedians and memory institutions enjoy a long history of collaborative partnerships, through projects like GLAM-Wiki and Wikimedian in Residence programs that help expand access to galleries’, libraries’, archives’, and museums’ collections on Wikimedia projects. The Wikimedia Foundation is proud to stand together with these institutions to safeguard their ability to continue the valuable work of preserving and sharing the world’s knowledge and culture, online and offline.”
– Stan Adams, Public Policy Specialist for the Wikimedia Foundation

By signing the Statement, Wikimedia reinforces the growing international movement that calls for legal reform on four essential rights that ensure long-term preservation and access:

1. Right to Collect
2. Right to Preserve
3. Right to Lend
4. Right to Cooperate

These rights are not abstract. They underpin the ability of institutions to continue their public mission: collecting digital materials, preserving them for future generations, lending them fairly, and cooperating across borders to make knowledge accessible to all.

Just as IFLA’s endorsement demonstrated global library support, Wikimedia’s decision signals that open knowledge communities stand united with memory institutions worldwide. Together, they are shaping the legal foundation needed to keep our collective memory alive in the digital era.