Digital Rights for Libraries - Internet Archive Europe

Internet Archive Europe Joins LIBER 2025 Panel on “Four Rights for Libraries”

June 28, 2025 / Beatrice Murch / Digital Rights for Libraries, Events

📅 Date: Friday, 4 July 2025
🕚 Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
📍 Location: Anthropole Building – Room 1031, Lausanne

We are proud to announce that Internet Archive Europe will be participating in this year’s LIBER 2025 Annual Conference as part of a powerful and timely panel titled “Four Rights for Libraries.” Moderated by our very own Jeff Ubois, this session brings together legal and policy experts from across Europe to spotlight how the rights long exercised by libraries are being eroded in the digital realm—and what we can do about it.

📚 Defending Library Rights in a Digital-Only World

The shift from owning physical materials to licensing digital content has created unprecedented challenges for libraries. License agreements often prohibit the preservation of digital works, making access to in-copyright but out-of-commerce materials a legal grey zone, or outright impossible. These barriers threaten not only long-term preservation efforts but also the principles of equitable access to knowledge and culture.

At LIBER 2025, our panel will explore these challenges and outline a proactive framework for securing Four Essential Rights for libraries:

The Right to Collect: Enable libraries to acquire digital materials—regardless of format or delivery mechanism—through legal means, including streaming-only content and open-market purchases.
The Right to Preserve: Guarantee that libraries can preserve, repair, and reformat digital content to ensure long-term access.
The Right to Lend: Uphold libraries’ ability to lend digital content under fair and traditional conditions, such as one-person-at-a-time access.
The Right to Cooperate: Allow for sharing and transferring digital collections among libraries to support underserved communities and global equity in access.

These principles are not merely aspirational. Governments, associations, and institutions are beginning to adopt them. For instance, the Government of Aruba has already endorsed this framework (read more), with similar commitments under consideration across the globe.

🎤 Meet the Panel

This panel brings together some of the most forward-thinking minds working at the intersection of policy, law, and digital access:

Justus Dreyling – Policy Director @ COMMUNIA.
Caroline De Cock – Head of Research @ information labs.
Peter Routhier – Deputy General Counsel @ the Internet Archive.
Moderator: Jeff Ubois – Board member @ Internet Archive Europe.

🔍 A Look Ahead: Building on LIBER’s Legacy

This session builds on LIBER’s longstanding commitment to digital knowledge access, including its signing of the Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age (read more). By spotlighting current threats and proposing practical solutions, the “Four Rights for Libraries” panel aims to renew and expand that legacy for future generations.

🧭 Why This Matters

As more cultural works are born digital or digitally restricted, libraries must be empowered—not shackled—by the law. This panel offers a vision for a future where libraries can fulfill their essential public mission: preserving knowledge and making it available to all.

We look forward to seeing you in Lausanne. Join us to be part of the movement shaping the digital rights of libraries worldwide.

Internet Archive Europe Joins LIBER 2025 Panel on “Four Rights for Libraries” Read Post »

Ownership Isn’t Optional: Why Libraries Must Control Their Digital Future

Dominic Broadhurst’s recent resignation from Clarivate’s advisory board isn’t just one librarian’s stand; it’s a flashing red light for the entire library sector. His reasons – protesting Clarivate’s shift away from perpetual ownership of digital collections towards subscription-only models – echo exactly the warnings issued back in December 2022 in the Internet Archive’s report on Securing Digital Rights for Libraries.

The issue is stark: Renting knowledge isn’t the same as owning it.

Clarivate’s move, prioritizing recurring revenue over permanent access, perfectly illustrates the dangers highlighted:

Loss of Control: When libraries can only subscribe, they lose the fundamental right to own and preserve collections for the long term. Libraries become dependent tenants, not permanent stewards.
Erosion of Preservation: Subscription models jeopardise the library’s core mission to preserve knowledge for future generations. Content can disappear at a vendor’s whim or price increase, undermining collection stability.
Threat to Equity: While framed as “affordable access,” mandatory subscriptions risk becoming unsustainable financial burdens, potentially limiting access for the communities libraries serve. True equity requires stable, perpetual access.
Mission Conflict: As Broadhurst notes, vendor claims of “partnership” ring hollow when commercial interests directly undermine the library’s public service mission. Libraries’ role isn’t just providing temporary access; it’s ensuring lasting availability.

This isn’t just about one vendor. It’s about a fundamental principle: Libraries need ownership and control over digital resources to fulfill their mission. The shift to subscription-only access represents a direct challenge to library autonomy and the enduring public access to knowledge we safeguard.

Broadhurst’s resignation is a painful reminder that the fight for digital rights isn’t theoretical. It’s happening now, and the stakes are high. We must resist models that turn libraries into passive renters and champion solutions that guarantee permanent access and preservation.

The Internet Archive Europe stands firm on the principles outlined in the Internet Archive 2022 report. Libraries must have the right to own, preserve, and lend digital materials. This incident underscores the urgency of that fight. We cannot afford to rent our future.

Feature image by Barkhayot Juraev on Unsplash