Two more organizations—SPARC and Curationist—have decided to sign the Statement on Four Digital Rights for Memory Institutions Online, demonstrating its broad appeal to memory institutions of different stripes.

SPARC and Curationist represent key collaborative institutions from library world and the museum space, respectively. SPARC is an umbrella advocacy group with more than 250 North American research libraries and academic organizations as its members; Curationist, a digital platform helping museums and archives open their collections to each other and to the world. 

Notwithstanding their distinct areas of focus, SPARC and Curationist are dedicated memory institutions, specializing to meet the needs of their patrons, members, and users, but never forgetting their shared goal of preserving culture and providing equal access to knowledge. That is why both are concerned about the effect that outdated laws are having on cultural heritage organizations in the digital age—and why they’ve joined Our Future Memory’s fight to protect memory institutions’ absolutely vital operations, in a media environment where affordable access to trustworthy information is at a premium.

“Curationist is signing this statement because the future of cultural memory depends on the ability of museums, libraries, and archives to operate fully and responsibly in the digital world,” said Executive Director Christian Dawson. “These rights are not abstract ideals. They are the practical foundations that allow institutions to preserve knowledge, provide access, and collaborate across borders. Our work exists to help make these rights real in practice, and we are proud to stand with a global community committed to protecting the past to power the future.”

To be sure, these “practical foundations” should not be controversial. They reflect the historical operations that have made libraries, archives, museums, and other memory institutions such an essential part of our information ecosystem. The Statement calls for legal assurances of memory institutions’ right and ability to:

• Collect digital materials
• Preserve digital collections
• Provide controlled digital access
• Cooperate across institutions

Thanks to SPARC and Curationist, the coalition to protect our future memory just got a bit bigger.

Ready to Join?

Your organization can join the movement and sign the Statement by going to the Our Future Memory website.

Want to learn more?

Register and join our informational webinar this Tuesday, January 27: “Protect Our Future Memory: Join the Call for Library Digital Rights.”