Last week, Internet Archive welcomed more than 150 attendees to the webinar, “Protect Our Future Memory: Join the Call for Library Digital Rights.” Held on January 27, the event brought together legal experts, library leaders, and advocates to talk about Our Future Memory and the global coalition working to secure the protections that memory institutions need in our increasingly digital and networked world.
Watch the session recording:
The webinar opened with a stark reality check: For generations, libraries, archives, museums, and other memory institutions have relied on social and legal norms that allow them to collect, preserve, and lend materials. But nowadays, digital content is increasingly being controlled by restrictive licenses on gated, paywalled platforms. This new distribution stream prohibits memory institutions from doing what they’ve historically been able to do in the physical world, curtailing their essential functions of preserving and providing long-term access to knowledge.
Webinar attendees heard from recent signatories Charlie Barlow, Executive Director of the Boston Library Consortium, and John Chrastka, Executive Director of the EveryLibrary Institute. Their participation highlighted the crisis facing memory institutions—and the demands necessary to overcome it.
“When we have publishers or vendors coming in and saying that we can’t do something that we perceive as foundational and essential,” said Barlow, “we’re in real trouble.”
Chrastka added, “We’ve got gases, solids, liquids, plasma, and ebooks! Seriously, when you think about it, I can’t own it unless the IP owner wants to distribute that right to us. It’s a violation, in some ways, of a natural order.”
To combat this dire situation, Our Future Memory is building consensus around the Statement on Digital Rights for Protecting Memory Institutions Online. Originating from discussions at the Library Leaders Forum and first endorsed by the National Library of Aruba in 2024, the Statement proposes the simple solution of letting memory institutions do what they were always able to do before the digital age. Specifically, they need the legal rights and practical ability to:
- Collect digital materials
- Preserve digital collections
- Provide controlled digital access
- Cooperate across institutions
The Statement’s focus on foundational norms is what compelled the Boston Library Consortium to join the coalition, and Barlow emphasized its value as a tool for asserting that traditional library functions must not be treated as negotiable.
“We chose to sign this one because for us, it really established a clear, public baseline that we can point to when long-standing library rights are being treated as optional or the exception,” he explained. “It really is about making those foundational rights visible and shared and harder to dismiss.”
For Chrastka and the EveryLibrary Institute, endorsing the Statement was a necessary step toward building the political momentum required to change the status quo.
“We haven’t been necessarily talking as a sector out loud together as frequently and as vociferously as we need to about what this should all look like,” Chrastka said. “We want to lean into this conversation.”
How can organizations participate?
It is because memory institutions speak louder when they stand together that Our Future Memory is actively accepting signatures from institutions, organizations, and government entities. If you are ready to stand with a global community committed to protecting the past to power the future, here is how you can join:
- Download the Statement from ourfuturememory.org (or email campaigns@internetarchive.eu for a copy).
- Sign the document (either by hand or using an electronic signature tool).
- Send the signed document back to campaigns@internetarchive.eu.
Once received, your organization will be added to the list of signatories.
Want to learn more? If you missed the live event, you can watch the full recording or visit the Our Future Memory website for resources to help you advocate for these rights in your own community.