Digital Rights for Libraries

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.

The Our Future Memory movement to secure digital rights for memory institutions has taken another step forward. Internet Archive Canada has signed the Statement on the Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions—and has gone further by ensuring the Statement is now available in French.

This translation opens the campaign to millions more people across Canada, Europe, Africa, and other Francophone regions, strengthening the inclusiveness of the global effort. Making the Statement accessible in different languages ensures that its principles resonate not just within professional circles but with communities everywhere that depend on libraries, archives, and cultural institutions.

Internet Archive Canada’s initiative builds on other international contributions. Thanks to the University Library “Svetozar Markovic” in Belgrade, a Serbian translation is also available, helping to spread the campaign across Central and Eastern Europe.

Together, these efforts highlight that the campaign is not only about four essential rights—

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

—but also about making those rights understandable and actionable across languages and cultures.

Call for Volunteers Among our Signatories

The success of the campaign depends on broad participation. We are now looking for volunteers from our signatories to draft additional translations of the Statement. Each new version brings more people into the conversation, amplifying the call for legal frameworks that allow memory institutions to thrive in the digital age.

If you can help, please get in touch at campaigns@internetarchive.eu. By working together, we can ensure these rights are embraced worldwide—because preserving our future memory is a global task.

Libraries have always been society’s great equalisers—gateways to knowledge, culture, and opportunity, open to everyone. But as the world moves from print to pixels, the fundamental ability of libraries to own and lend books is under threat. This isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a direct challenge to our collective right to access digital materials, the third core principle of the Our Future Memory campaign supported by Internet Archive Europe.

Two recent publications shed crucial light on this struggle, mapping out both the problem and the path forward for memory institutions across Europe.

From Ownership to Expensive, Temporary Access

The core of the problem is a seismic shift in how we access digital content. As a recent COMMUNIA policy paper highlights, publishers are increasingly moving away from selling digital materials and are instead offering restrictive licenses. For libraries, this means they can no longer simply buy a book and own it forever. Instead, they’re trapped in a cycle of temporary, rental-like agreements that give publishers unprecedented control.

The consequences are stark. Libraries face exorbitant prices, “take it or leave it” subscription bundles filled with titles they don’t need, and terms that can forbid preservation, accessibility services, or inter-library loans. In some cases, publishers can even refuse to license essential e-books altogether, effectively creating gaps on our shared digital shelves. This reliance on licensing, a comprehensive study on e-lending in Europe by Knowledge Rights 21 concludes, “undermines the societal role of libraries by limiting their operational capabilities” and compromises fundamental user rights like privacy.

A Path Forward: Secure Digital Lending and the Right to License

So, what’s the solution? The Knowledge Rights 21 study offers a powerful, legally grounded model: (independent) Secure Digital Lending ((i)SDL). 

This model is simple and fair: if a library legally owns a physical copy of a book, it should have the right to digitise it and lend out that single digital copy to one user at a time. This “one copy, one user” system mirrors traditional library lending and provides a vital backstop when publishers refuse to offer fair licensing terms. The study compellingly argues that this model is permissible under existing EU law, offering a clear path for libraries to reclaim their autonomy in the digital age.

The COMMUNIA policy paper builds on this by calling for broader legislative change. It argues that because access is a prerequisite for exercising rights like education and research, users need an enforceable “ancillary access right”. For libraries, this means an obligation on publishers to facilitate access through fair and reasonable licenses. Critically, any licensing terms that prevent a library from fulfilling its public mission—such as by charging unfair prices or restricting lawful uses—should be unenforceable.

Join the Conversation

To dive deeper into these critical issues, join the upcoming COMMUNIA Salon on “The Right to E-Lend.” This online event will be moderated by Peter Routhier from the Internet Archive and will feature experts discussing the challenges and solutions outlined in these essential reports. It’s a perfect opportunity to engage with the community and explore how we can collectively build a better digital future for our libraries.

• Event: COMMUNIA Salon: The Right to E-Lend
• Date & Time: Wednesday 24 September, 15:00-16:00 CEST
• Register here: https://mailchi.mp/communia-association/2wflwvvchh 

Stand for Our Future Memory

Both of these reports arrive at the same conclusion: the current system is failing our libraries and, by extension, all of us. Securing the right to access, own, and lend digital materials is not a niche issue: it’s essential for ensuring that knowledge remains a public good, not a private, pay-per-view commodity.

This is precisely what the third right of the Our Future Memory campaign is all about. The ability of our memory institutions to build and preserve digital collections for future generations depends on our ability to act now.

The digital transformation of knowledge will continue regardless of whether memory institutions effectively advocate for their needs.

If your institution believes in a future where digital knowledge is owned, preserved, and accessible to all, it’s not too late to show your support. Join the growing list of signatories and stand with us.

Sign the statement at: www.ourfuturememory.org