Exploring the Richness of Culture and Technology

Protecting the Past to Power the Future: Internet Archive Europe Launches the Our Future Memory Campaign

/ / Digital Rights for Libraries, Events, Press

Today marks a defining moment in the fight for digital rights in cultural heritage. From the shores of Lake Geneva, where minds have long gathered to shape the future of knowledge, Internet Archive Europe proudly announces the launch of Our Future Memory, a global campaign dedicated to safeguarding the digital rights of libraries, archives, and museums worldwide.

The timing could not be more deliberate. As we speak at the LIBER 2025 Annual Conference, surrounded by Europe’s leading library professionals, we are witnessing firsthand the urgency that drives this initiative. The “Four Rights for Libraries” panel session today, moderated by our own Jeff Ubois alongside distinguished speakers Justus Dreyling from COMMUNIA, Caroline De Cock from information labs, and Peter Routhier from Internet Archive, has crystallised what many of us have felt for years: the digital transformation has fundamentally altered the landscape for memory institutions, and not always for the better.

The Challenge We Face

While technology has promised universal access to human knowledge, many libraries today find themselves with fewer practical ways to fulfill their historic mission than they had decades ago. 

The shift from owning physical materials to licensing digital content has created an unprecedented crisis. License agreements routinely prohibit preservation activities that were once standard practice. Materials that exist only in digital formats often remain locked behind commercial platforms that restrict the very institutions meant to preserve them for future generations.

This is not merely a technical problem, it is a fundamental threat to the democratic principle that knowledge should be accessible to all, regardless of economic means or geographic location.

Our Response: Four Essential Rights

The Our Future Memory campaign centers on a simple premise: memory institutions must retain online the same rights and responsibilities they have historically exercised offline. To achieve this, we have articulated four fundamental digital rights:

  1. The Right to Collect materials in digital form, whether through digitisation, open market purchases, or other legal means. This includes content that exists only in streaming formats or behind platform restrictions.
  2. The Right to Preserve digital materials through backup, repair, and reformatting activities essential for long-term access. Without this right, today’s digital culture risks becoming tomorrow’s digital dark age.
  3. The Right to Lend digital content under traditional library conditions, maintaining the balanced approach to access that has served communities for centuries.
  4. The Right to Cooperate through sharing and transferring digital collections among institutions, ensuring that resource constraints do not create information deserts.

Building Momentum

The campaign has already gained remarkable traction. Since its initial signing in Aruba in April 2024, institutions across the globe have endorsed the statement. From the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision to the National Library of Serbia, from cultural organisations in Belgrade to public libraries throughout the Balkans, a diverse coalition is emerging.

This geographic and institutional diversity reflects a crucial truth: the challenges facing memory institutions transcend national boundaries and organisational types. The digitisation of culture affects us all, and our response must be equally comprehensive.

Why This Matters Now

The stakes extend far beyond library operations. Authors, researchers, journalists, and creators of all kinds depend on the sustained availability of cultural materials that only memory institutions preserve without regard to commercial viability. Future historians will judge us by how well we maintained access to the intellectual heritage of our time.

Join the Movement

Whether you lead a major research library or manage a small community archive, whether you work in policy development or daily patron services, your voice matters in this conversation.

We invite you to take action:

  • Sign the Statement: If you represent a memory institution or support organisation, visit ourfuturememory.org to learn about our verification process and add your endorsement.
  • Engage Your Community: Share this message with colleagues, board members, and stakeholders. The more voices we gather, the stronger our collective impact becomes.
  • Connect With Us: Follow our progress and join ongoing conversations about digital rights and cultural preservation.

From Lausanne today, we launch not just a campaign but a commitment to future generations. The memory institutions that have faithfully preserved human knowledge through countless technological transitions will continue to do so in the digital age, but only if we act with purpose and urgency.

Our future memory depends on the choices we make today. Join us in making them count.

Learn more about our work and the Our Future Memory campaign at ourfuturememory.org.

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

/ / 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:

  1. 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.
  2. The Right to Preserve: Guarantee that libraries can preserve, repair, and reformat digital content to ensure long-term access.
  3. The Right to Lend: Uphold libraries’ ability to lend digital content under fair and traditional conditions, such as one-person-at-a-time access.
  4. 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:

🔍 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.

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Internet Archive Europe at PublicSpaces Conference: AI for the Public Good

/ / Events, Public AI

Internet Archive Europe is proud to participate in the upcoming PublicSpaces Conference in Amsterdam, joining a pivotal session on “AI for the Public Good” taking place on June 13, 2025. This session brings together leading voices in the field to explore how artificial intelligence can serve the public interest rather than narrow commercial goals.

Exploring Public-Interest AI

An academic for the Inclusive AI Lab of the Utrecht University and three Advisors of Internet Archive Europe will speak during the session, each bringing a unique perspective and expertise:

  • Jeff Ubois will set the stage by outlining some of the links between AI, digital preservation, and support public benefit initiatives—highlighting the challenges and opportunities we face in ensuring long term access to digital information. 
  • Daniel Erasmus will present ClimateGPT, a case study of how large language models can be harnessed to enhance decision-making about climate change, a pressing global concern that demands innovative, collaborative solutions.
  • Ben Cerveny will talk about AI as digital public infrastructure in various domains, and how the public sector might successfully build and maintain such resources
  • Lucie Chateau will bring a vital global lens, discussing how AI systems can be inclusive by design and look beyond EU-centric models. She will highlight the importance of ensuring AI policy and development also address the realities and innovations emerging from the Global South.

The panel will be moderated by Caroline De Cock, Head of Research of information labs.

Join the Conversation

As questions of control, access, and accountability in AI systems become ever more pressing, this session invites policymakers, technologists, civil society, and the public to rethink how AI can serve shared societal goals.

📅  When: June 13, 2025 – 15:15-16:10 @ IJzaal
 📍 Where: PublicSpaces Conference, Pakhuis De Zwijger, Amsterdam
🔗 More info & registration: conference.publicspaces.net/en/session/ai-for-the-public-good

Let’s explore how to build AI systems that empower communities, preserve knowledge, and strengthen public infrastructures. Join us for this timely and important discussion.

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

/ / Digital Rights for Libraries

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

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Standing Strong for Access to Knowledge: Brewster Kahle Speaks to NRC

/ / General, Press

On 7 April 2025, NRC Handelsblad published a thoughtful and deeply relevant interview with Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, titled “Het grootste webarchief ter wereld wordt bedreigd door procederende uitgevers, zegt oprichter” (“The world’s largest web archive is under threat from litigious publishers, says founder”). We extend our sincere thanks to journalist Juurd Eijsvoogel for this important piece, which brings a nuanced spotlight to the fragile future of public access to knowledge.

For nearly three decades, Kahle has led the effort to build a library of the internet — a monumental task rooted in the same democratic values as the libraries of centuries past. In the interview, he explains the existential legal challenges the Internet Archive faces today and why its mission is more critical than ever.

“We are not trying to replace publishers — we’re trying to make sure the past is not forgotten,” Kahle tells NRC. “And Europe, with its rich cultural heritage and strong library tradition, must play a central role in this.”

At Internet Archive Europe, we share this conviction wholeheartedly. We believe Europe is not only a natural home for a growing web archive — it is a vital force in ensuring digital memory is preserved and access remains open for all.

Kahle also speaks with enthusiasm about the promise of artificial intelligence to serve this mission:

“AI helps us search data and texts, create summaries and translations, perform optical character recognition – all wonderful tools to bring our collections to life.

In this way, we can offer broader audiences access to Latin texts, to summaries of books they might never read in full. It can unleash a whole new wave of creativity.”

This is the spirit in which we’re growing Internet Archive Europe: to make memory, learning, and imagination thrive in a digital world. We are actively building collaborations with European institutions to make this vision a reality — one that is open, multilingual, and inclusive.

📎 Read the full NRC interview here (in Dutch).

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Thank You, Leiden—You Were Amazing!

/ / Events, Public AI

On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, I had the privilege of speaking at Leiden University’s Telders Auditorium, located in the heart of Leiden, Netherlands. It was an inspiring afternoon filled with positive academic energy, thought-provoking discussions, and a shared passion for digital preservation of our collective memory. Many thanks to Jos Damen and Dirk Visser for co-hosting and organizing the afternoon.

Brewster Kahle at Leiden University, photo by Beatrice Murch

Exploring the Future of Libraries and AI

This special event focused on the exciting possibilities at the intersection of libraries and artificial intelligence. My talk introduced the Internet Archive Europe’s efforts to leverage AI and other tools to enhance accessibility and relevance to vast cultural heritage collections of our partners.

Key Takeaways from the Talk

✅ Championing Cultural Diversity – How Public AI can reflect European values, support smaller languages, and ensure that no cultural narratives are lost.

✅ Empowering Accessibility – We explored how AI-driven assistive technologies can improve access to library resources for individuals with reading challenges.

✅ Revolutionizing Discovery – We discussed how machine learning can improve metadata, making digital collections easier to search and navigate, bringing them to life.

✅ Addressing Global Challenges – The potential of AI in tackling global issues such as climate change was also a key topic of discussion.

Brewster, Jos, Dirk and Ronald with the Project Owl, by Vera de Kok – CC BY-SA 4.0

Presentation of Owl Award

On behalf of the Internet Archive, I was deeply honored to receive the ProjectUil (Project Owl) from Wikimedia Nederland. Ronald Velgersdijk the organizer of the Dutch Wiki Owls, presented me with the 2024 Project Owl. Vera de Kok, another Dutch Wikipedian, was on hand to document the whole event with photos and wrote up a wonderful summary of the presentation of the owl and the lecture. We appreciate all the time and effort all Wikipedia contributors put in to make the internet a place for knowledge.

Looking Ahead: Move Ahead, He Said

The atmosphere in the room was enthusiastic, perfectly captured by Dirk Visser, Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Leiden Law School, who passionately encouraged the audience with his call to action “To move ahead as quickly as possible!”, acknowledging that “there certainly will be legal issues, but [the archive community] should of course invoke Article 3 for all things that are not for profit”. 

His words resonated deeply, reaffirming our collective commitment to both preserving knowledge and driving innovation forward.

I left Leiden feeling inspired by the engagement and thoughtful questions from the audience. This event reinforced the Internet Archive Europe’s mission—to build a global digital library that is accessible to all and to foster a community where digital collections truly come to life.

Thank you, Leiden, for an unforgettable experience! Your energy and enthusiasm remind me that when we combine passion with purpose, we can achieve extraordinary things. Let’s continue to push boundaries and shape the future of digital knowledge together!

— Brewster Kahle

🔗 Explore more about the Internet Archive Europe’s mission, in our “news about Internet Archive Europe“.

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