Toolkit on Preservation

SCCR/43
Geneva
March
2023
Rina Elster Pantalony
Director, Copyright Advisory Services,
Columbia University Libraries
Defining Preservation
Conservation and stabilization
• Preservation processes require multiple copies regardless of format
• To analyze and assess damage
• To document the before and after
• To reformat the master copy (e.g. audio and audiovisual recordings)

Documentation of object-based collections

• Inventory records that identify and describe objects in collections require images of objects
as part of inventory process
• Inventories are used for collections management and preservation research purposes
• Inventories safeguard cultural property from theft and illicit trafficking
• Inventories allow for cross-border preservation research and cooperation
Disaster Planning: Future-Proofing Collections
Anticipatory preservation (future-proofing) of collections is now part of
disaster planning, an important element of collections management
Anticipatory preservation reproduces original objects in digital formats at a
time well before imminent deterioration or loss
Digital reproductions are held in trusted repositories
Climate change, human conflict and now health crises have exacerbated the
potential for agents that pose the greatest risk to collections:
• Physical force (whether natural or human), vandalism, disassociation such
as theft or looting, fire, water damage, pests, pollution, light, temperature
changes, humidity variation, malware and security compromises
The Duty of Care to Preserve

Cultural heritage organizations (e.g. libraries, archives, museums) have a legal

duty of care to preserve collections
Their originating statutes and instruments may describe their legal obligations
Leadership in cultural heritage organizations are responsible for ensuring the
that their legal obligations are met
The duty of care to preserve is also an ethical requirement
Why? Collections under their stewardship are held in trust for the public
For these reasons such organizations are trusted institutions
Policy Considerations When Developing Exceptions
to Copyright for Preservation
PROACTIVE PRESERVATION
• Digital reproductions made when objects and materials are in their best
state and not at immediate risk ensures
• Quality of reproduction
• Deposit into trusted repositories
• Integrity and respect for IP
• Consistency in practice
Policy Considerations

IMPORTANCE OF RIGHTS METADATA

• Designed to support respectful and lawful subsequent uses
• Promotes due diligence and integrates IP assessment as part of
collections management
• Records the provenance of objects and materials in a collection
• Promulgates recognized standards in rights taxonomy
Policy Considerations

DIVERSITY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE INSTITUTIONS

• Organizations other than libraries, archives and museums also preserve
cultural heritage collections
• They may meet the requirements as a trusted institution based on their
missions, mandates, policies and protocols, notwithstanding their
categorization
• Consider allowing flexibility about the scope and character of institutions
who may benefit from an exception to preserve cultural heritage
collections in order to meet preservation policy objectives
Policy Considerations

COMPLEXITIES IN SHARED OR SPLIT COLLECTIONS

• Collections can be shared or split between cultural heritage organizations
• Shared collections may be owned jointly among distinct organizations
• Split collections may be stewarded jointly among distinct organizations
• Organizations may be interdisciplinary in nature
• Organizations may be working together across borders
• Consideration should be given how to address their interdisciplinary
distinctions and how to enable exceptions to be interoperable across
borders.
Policy Considerations

COOPERATIVE PRESERVATION PROGRAMS

• Collections may be connected substantively, related in either provenance
or subject matter but held by different cultural heritage organizations
• These organizations may be diverse in nature and character
• They may look to each other for copies of objects or materials in order to
carry out preservation research
• Where collections comprise rare, unique, primary source materials
(archival collections), they may complete their respective collections by
sharing copies of materials with each other as a form of preservation
• Additional consideration may be a need to address cross-border issues