Four years of the Open GLAM survey

Mission Manufacturing Co., August 1944. Robert Yarnall Richie.
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, no known copyright restrictions.

Co-developed and led by Andrea Wallace and me since March 2018, the Open GLAM survey records instances of open access policy and practice in the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) sector. Today, the survey lists 1,424 institutions which have published open access data, from Aruba to Venezuela.

Housed in a public Google Sheet, the survey has grown in scale and complexity over the past four years. So in advance of the survey’s fourth anniversary, Andrea and I decided to restructure, check and clean the data. This post presents an overview of that work, highlights new data points that we hope to enrich, and features new visualisations generated from the whole survey.

Providing accurate and useful links to sources of Open GLAM data

The survey lists instances of institutions publishing collections data on open access terms. As well as recording the primary licences and rights statements used in each case, it provides direct links to the open data. At the time of writing, the total volume of surveyed open data exceeds 80,000,000 digital objects. To make it easy to access all the Open GLAM data, and accurately record the various platforms where GLAMs have published open collections, the survey has discrete columns for Open Data Platform, Open Data Source and Open Data Volume:

Fig. 1: Open Data Platform, Open Data Source and Open Data Volume columns in the Open GLAM survey, March 2022

URLs in the Open Data Source columns link as directly as possible to the open access collections. We recently checked every Open Data Source link to make sure that it was working and that it provided the most useful access point to the open data. The structure of museum and aggregator websites often change over time so it’s important to be vigilant for broken links – as can happen when a data provider name is reformatted, related URLs are changed and no redirection is implemented.

From time to time, Open GLAM data simply goes offline, when an institution revokes its open access policy, removes open assets from publication platforms, or the web resource hosting the open data stops working. When this happens, our policy is to remove the relevant instance from the spreadsheet because the survey is designed to present the current state of Open GLAM. Rest assured, though, that historical instances of open access are recorded for posterity, in archived versions of the Open GLAM survey on the Internet Archive and in Wikidata. For a complete list of newly added and recently removed institutions in the survey, please see the Appendix at the bottom of this post.

Introducing ‘Rights Statement Compliance’

We’ve added a new data point in the survey, Rights Statement Compliance. This reflects the overall approach that institutions appear to have taken to publishing open data, classified in three categories:

1. Public domain compliant – No new rights are claimed in the data released. Users are ensured that any public domain materials remain in the public domain in digital form. Examples include: Public Domain Mark, No Copyright – United States and CC0.

2. Copyright disclaimer – No new rights are claimed in the data released and no assertion is made that the data is conclusively in the public domain. The onus is on the user to ensure reuse is legally compliant. Examples include: No known copyright restrictions and No Known Copyright.

3. Open compliant – New rights are claimed in the data released and the licence applied aligns with international definitions for “open” that permit commercial reuse. Examples include: CC BY, CC BY-SA and Licence Ouverte.

Better data validation to assist research

To make the survey data more structured, and easier to filter and sort, we have introduced and expanded data validation for the following data points. Here are the details:

Open data platform: Aggregator, ArtUK, Coding Da Vinci, Digital NZ, Europeana, Flickr, Flickr Commons, German Digital Library, Internet Archive, Japan Search, Other, Own website, Sketchfab, Trove, Wikimedia Commons
Institution type: Aggregator, Archive, Corporation, Gallery, Government, Library, Museum, Private collection, Research institution, University, Visitor attraction, Other
Primary rights statement for digital surrogates of public domain objects: CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA, Common Cultural Heritage (with conditions), DAC Open Access Images, Free access and use, High Resolution Files (All Uses Allowed Including Commercial Uses), Licence Ouverte, No copyright, No Copyright – United States, No known copyright, No Known Copyright, No known copyright restrictions, Open Access, Open Government Data Licence 1.0, Open Government Licence, Open Use, Public Domain, Public Domain in Canada, Public Domain Mark, Public Domain (with conditions)
Rights statement for metadata: CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA, Licence Ouverte, No Copyright – United States, No Known Copyright, ODbL, Open Government Data Licence 1.0, Open Government Licence, Open Government Licence – Canada 2.0, Public Domain Mark

More granular than before

Since starting to record the volume of open access data in the survey, we’ve realised that there are many small-scale examples of Open GLAM. Today, you can see find several examples of institutions that have (to our knowledge) openly released just one item from their collections. As it’s often difficult to know what proportion of an institution’s collections such items represent, or whether the open access publication was a one-off exception, our policy is to record and include these instances in the survey.

What we’re still working on – and what you can help us with

Sinclair Refining Laboratory at Corpus Christi, December 1944. Photo by Robert Yarnall Richie.
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, no known copyright restrictions.

Since starting the survey we’ve added several new data points, with the aim of deepening our understanding of Open GLAM. Sometimes, though, it’s difficult to obtain the information we’re looking for. Here are things we’d like to know more about.

Date of 1st OA instance: wouldn’t it be great to see the growth of Open GLAM, year by year and region by region, plotted on a graph? In order to produce such a graph, we need to know when institutions first adopted open access policies for (at least some of) their collections. We’ve added a dedicated column, ‘Date of 1st OA instance’ to the survey, where the relevant year can be added, and a neighbouring column ‘Citation of 1st OA instance’ where online citations (such as press releases), archived to the Wayback Machine by us, are listed. Open access releases often seem to go unrecorded, so if you have information that could help us develop this data point, please get in touch.
Intellectual property policy for Intangible Cultural Heritage and Traditional Cultural Expressions: to incorporate the important ethical dimensions of releasing cultural heritage collections on open access terms, we added a column ‘IP policy for ICH and TCE’ so that relevant GLAM policies and statements can be recorded in the survey. This is a relatively new data point so if you are aware of relevant information that we have missed, please get in touch.

Visualising the Open GLAM survey

The Explore function in Google Sheets makes it simple to create visualisations. When writing about or presenting the Open GLAM survey, Andrea and I use Explore to generate charts illustrating important data points. You’re welcome to do the same and, if you do, please let us know because we always love seeing this.

Here are new charts generated from the latest data:

Open GLAM by institution type

Licences and rights statements in use

Fig. 3: Open GLAM rights statements, licences and legal tools in the Open GLAM survey, March 2022

Open GLAM platforms

The Open GLAM survey in Wikidata

With the generous help of Wikimedians and the cultural heritage community, the survey has been documented extensively in Wikidata (see Q73357989 and related editions). This enables the data to be queried and visualised in many ways, such as the map shown below.

Fig. 5: Global instances of Open GLAM, March 2022. Source: https://w.wiki/4u32

Get in touch

Do you know of an Open GLAM institution that you think should be in the survey? Please let us know by completing this Google Form, and feel welcome to chat with Andrea and me on Twitter.

On the Presentations and Writing pages of my website, you’ll find lots of conference videos, slides and more articles about open access to cultural heritage. Be sure to visit Open GLAM on Medium too, for global perspectives on this topic.

Appendix

Survey additions, A-Z by country

Australia

New South Wales State Archives & Records

Austria

Sammlung Andreas Gruber
Universalmuseum Joanneum
University of Graz
University of Vienna, Institute for Botany – Herbarium WU

Belgium

CIVA
Collectie Herman Maes
Gallo-Romeins Museum
Gruuthuse Museum
KOERS Museum van de wielersport
NAVIGO Nationaal Visserijmuseum
Raakvlak

Bulgaria

Институт за български език при БАН (Institute of Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
Регионална библиотека “Дора Габе” (Dora Gabe Regional Library, Dobrich)
Регионална библиотека ЗАХАРИЙ КНЯЖЕСКИ – Стара Загора (Zakhariy Knyazheski Regional Library, Stara Zagora)

Cyprus

Κυπριακή Βιβλιοθήκη, Kypriakī́ Vivliothī́kī (Cyprus National Library)
Υπουργείου Παιδείας, Πολιτισμού, Αθλητισμού και Νεολαίας (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth)

Czech Republic

JIhočeská vědecká knihovna v Českých Budějovicích
Moravská galerie v Brně
Muzeum a galerie Mlejn
Muzeum Středního Pootaví Strakonice
Národní muzeum – Přírodovědecké muzeum
Národní muzeum – České muzeum hudby
Národní muzeum – Historické muzeum
Národní muzeum – Knihovna Národního muzeay
Národní muzeum – Náprstkovo muzeum
Národní muzeum – Virtuální muzeum
Národní technická knihovna
Národní technické muzeum
Poštovní muzeum
Uměleckoprůmyslové museum v Praze
Vědecká knihovna v Olomouci

Denmark

Danmarks Fotomuseum
Faaborg Museum
Rudolph Tegners Museum og Statuepark
Skagens Museum
Sorø Kunstmuseum

Estonia

Ennistuskoda KANUT
Rahvusraamatukogu (Digar)

Germany

AlliiertenMuseum
Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau (BAW) Infozentrum Wasserbau
Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte – Haus der Wannseekonferenz
Museum Schloss Moritzburg Zeitz
Stiftung Kraftwerk Hirschfelde
Technische Sammlungen Dresden
TECHNOSEUM Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim
Transmediale

Greece

Εθνική Πινακοθήκη-Μουσείο Αλεξάνδρου Σούτσου (National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum)
Ελληνικό Κέντρο Βιοτόπων (Greek Biotope/Wetland Centre) – Υγροτόπων (ΕΚΒΥ)
Ίδρυμα Βαρώνου Μιχαήλ Τοσίτσα (Baron Michael Tossizza Foundation)
Μουσείο Μπενάκη (Benaki Museum)

Hungary

Aggteleki Nemzeti Park Igazgatóság
Diafilmtörténeti Gyűjtemény
Együd Árpád Kulturális Központ
Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum

Iceland

Húsafriðunarnefnd
Minjastofnun Íslands

Ireland

Digital Repository of Ireland
Dublin City University Library
Local Government Management Agency

Italy

Archivi delle arti applicate italiane del XX secolo
Archivio Fotografico – Fondo Gabinio
Associazione culturale GoTellGo
Museo Nazionale di Matera
Promoter Digital Gallery

Latvia

Bauskas novadpētniecības un mākslas muzejs
Jaņa Rozentāla Saldus vēstures un mākslas muzejs
Kuldīgas novada muzejs
Latvijas Etnogrāfiskais brīvdabas muzejs
Latvijas Universitāte
Latvijas vēstures institūts, Latvijas Universitāte
Limbažu muzejs
Nacionālā kultūras mantojuma pārvalde
Rīgas pilsētas būvvalde

Lithuania

Kauno miesto muziejus

Malta

Kon-Katidral ta’ San Ġwann
MUŻA

Montenegro

Nacionalna biblioteka Crne Gore – Đurđe Crnojević

Netherlands

CollectieGelderland
Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
Kijk & Luistermuseum
Museum Enschedé
Museum Het Pakhuis
Museum Vliegbasis Deelen
Nederlands Fotomuseum
Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed
RKD – Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis

Norway

Akershus Slott og Festning
Fylkesarkivet i Vestland

Portugal

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Slovenia

Knjižnica Ivana Potrča
Moderna galerija, Ljubljana
Narodna galerija, Ljubljana
Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica
Slovenská národná knižnica
Turistično društvo Vurberk
VAZ Collections

Spain

Agencia Andaluza de Instituciones Culturales
Arxiu fotografic de Barcelona
Museu Frederic Marès

Sweden

Kulturarv Västernorrland
Kulturparken Småland

Switzerland

Bibliothèque du Genève
Kulturgüterportal Baselland
Musée Guérien

Turkey

Presidency of the Republic of Turkey

Ukraine

Кровецько-етнографічний збірник (Krovets-Ethnographic Collection)
Київський політехнічний інститут імені Ігоря Сікорського, Національний технічний університет України (Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute)
Державному політехнічному музеї, Національний технічний університет України (KPI State Polytechnic Museum)

Aberdeen Archives, Art Gallery and Museums
Archaeology Data Service
Newcastle University Special Collections
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Royal Photographic Society Collection at the National Media Museum
The Royal Collection Trust
University of Cardiff Special Collections and Archives

Museum of Photographic Arts
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
U.S. Navy Medicine, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

Survey removals, A-Z by country

Many of these open access instances have been removed from the survey because the open data are no longer available on Europeana. If you think any of the institutions should be reinstated, please get in touch.