Four years of the Open GLAM Survey

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

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.

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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

Fig. 2: Open GLAM by institution type in the Open GLAM Survey, March 2022

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

Fig. 4: Open GLAM platforms in the Open GLAM Survey, March 2022

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.

Read more about the Open GLAM Survey


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)

UK

  • 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

US

  • 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.

Bulgaria

  • Народна библиотека „ИВАН ВАЗОВ – Пловдив“ (Ivan Vazov National Library)
  • ​​Регионална библиотека “Любен Каравелов” (Luben Karavelov Regional Library)

France

  • Alliance Israelite Universelle

Chile

  • Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos

Czech Republic

  • Národní muzeum

Germany

  • Anhaltische Landesbücherei Dessau
  • Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
  • Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg
  • Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde e.V., Geographische Zentralbibliothek
  • Sorbisches Institut Bautzen e.V.
  • Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen
  • Stadt Leipzig, Stadtarchiv
  • Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig

Greece

  • Σύλλογος Φίλων Ιδρυμάτων Στέφανου Κότσιανου (Repository of the Municipality of Polygyros)

Hungary

  • Schola Graphidis Művészeti Gyűjtemény Magyarország

Netherlands

  • Bakkerij Museum
  • Flipje and Streekmuseum Tiel
  • Historisch Museum Ede
  • Liemers Museum
  • Nationaal Glasmuseum
  • Schouwen-Duiveland
  • Slot Loevestein
  • Stadskasteel Zaltbommel
  • Stadsmuseum Harderwijk

Norway

  • Arkeologisk museum i Stavanger
  • Norsk Skogmuseum
  • Telemuseet
  • Tromsø Museum
  • Vest-Telemark Museum

Poland

  • Politechnika Warszawska
  • Wejherowska Biblioteka Cyfrowa

Spain

  • Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya
  • Asociación de Amigos de los Caminos de Santiago de Madrid
  • Biblioteca Digital de la Comunidad de Madrid
  • Biblioteca Seminario Santa Catalina – Diócese Mondoñedo-Ferrol
  • Biblioteca Virtual Aragón
  • Biblioteca Virtual de Prensa Histórica
  • Biblioteca Virtual La Rioja
  • Biblioteca-Museo de Ponteareas
  • Instituto de Educación Secundaria Lucus Augusti
  • Museo das Peregrinacións e de Santiago
  • Museo Massó
  • Real Academia Nacional de Medicina

Switzerland

  • Stadtarchiv Winterthur

USA

  • Berkeley Natural History Museums
  • Middle Georgia State University Archives