Memorandum submitted by Museums, Libraries
and Archives Council
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
(MLA), together with its nine Regional Agencies work in partnership
to provide strategic direction and leadership to museums, libraries
and archives across England. Our common purpose is to improve
people's lives through access to the collections and resources
of museums, libraries and archives—building knowledge, supporting
learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity. The partners
act collectively for the benefit of the sector and the public,
leading the transformation of museums, libraries and archives
for the future.
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES,
NEW MEDIA
AND THE
ROLE OF
MUSEUMS, ARCHIVES
AND LIBRARIES
The rise of the creative economy is drawing
the spheres of innovation (technological creativity), business
(economic creativity) and culture (artistic and cultural creativity)
into one another ... Florida. Richard Florida, The rise of the
creative class (New York, 2004),
The creative economy is one built on the culture
and values of the cultural sector, including museums, archives
and libraries, to incubate and inspire creativity and generate
new concepts, proposals, prototypes and products. It thrives on
the abilities that the sector fosters, as described in MLA's Inspiring
Learning for All [www.inspiringlearning.gov.uk]. Described as
the "generic learning outcomes" of personal development
and self learning, these are:
— knowledge and understanding;
— activity behaviour and progression;
— attitudes and values; and
— enjoyment, inspiration, creativity.
Museums, archives and libraries support creative
industries probably as much as they do industry and commerce in
any other area of the economy. They operate in key areas that
are essential to the evolution of this critical part of the economy:
— Enabling access to knowledge resources.
— Collecting, managing and preserving
the nation's knowledge and cultural resources The cultural heritage
of Britain is housed in archive, print, sound, visual and digital
media in the museums, archives and libraries of Britain.
— Information, for SME's in particular,
which form a significant portion of the human dimension of the
creative economy and the majority of emergent creative enterprises.
— Experience and expertise in issues
associated with control, deposit, security, rights, distribution
and all matters associated with the dilemma that is careful handling
and effective exploitation of knowledge and cultural assets.
— Nurturing skills of literacy, speaking
and listening skills, information and media literacies and creative
reading and writing prepares children and young people to operate
both as consumers and a creator.
Access to global learning and communications
technologies is now pervasive in all libraries in Britain.
— The development of the People's Network
has ensured that all public libraries are connected to the interent,
and form the backbone of the Ukonline Centre network. Millions
of UK citizens are able to easily use the internet to access global
information resources and dialogues.
— Through the People's Network Service,
public libraries now provide 24/7 services for enquiries with
access to expert searchers, remote access to electronic learning
and information resources.
— The collections of all public and
academic libraries are described and listed on the web. Resources
are immediately available through this route.
— In academic libraries there is a
direct association between the library and the academic capacity
of the institution.
— The British Library is promoted as
holding "the world's knowledge" housing as it does in
analogue and increasingly digital format, so much of the record
of human experience.
— Libraries have an increasing amount
of web-based information and support resources for SME's in both
information and digital sources as resources for creativity.
— the existing creator through access
to previous works of creativity in whatever medium or format.
Archives preserve unique resources covering
every aspect of the UK's history (along with links to other nations
and cultures), its interests, its business life and its creativity.
It is not overstating the importance of archives to suggest that
without their existence there would be no real sense of history,
whether of the last ten years or the last thousand years. But
this role is changing with the digital environment, as information,
from public and private sectors alike, is increasingly available
only in digital form. Archival records are also evidential components
of the official record and are therefore essential to understanding
the processes of decision-making and governance. Preserving and
managing these records has a long and honourable history. This
role has become increasingly important to public life as the Freedom
of Information Act, the Data Protection Act, the demands of electronic
records management and increasing media scrutiny of government
have brought new responsibilities to all public authorities for
the care of archives and current administrative records. MLA is
a founder member of the Digital Preservation Coalition [www.dpconline.org],
which aims to tackle some of these issues.
MLA has identified that more needs to be done
to enable easier access for all to the knowledge held in cultural
institutions that is a driver for the Knowledge Economy. In July
2005, MLA published a Briefing Sheet on a vision for a Knowledge
Web.
"There's a wealth of publicly-funded content
online, all from trusted sources and all intended to contribute
to people's knowledge, learning and cultural enrichment. But the
web is driven by commercial pressures, and the public realm gets
swamped in the world's mega market place. The Knowledge Web will
allow people to find the information they want without needing
to know which institutions or websites they're looking for. Personalisation
will mean that they will be presented with the type of information
that fits their learning style, is relevant to where they live,
and builds upon their existing knowledge.
There is already a wealth of digital content
on the web from museums, libraries and archives. The Knowledge
Web will provide new links between collections and, most important,
help to select the material that is most relevant to the needs
of the particular user.
DCMS, DfES and MLA have jointly agreed the need
for closer collaboration in this area, and work is already underway.
MLA is chairing a public-sector wide group to unlock public sector
content, which includes DfES, BECTa, British Library, BBC and
many others. Plans for the Creative Archive, led by the BBC, Channel
4, BFI and the Open University, concentrating on moving image
material, are consistent with this approach.
Critical next steps for this programme are:
— Adopt the Knowledge Web as a policy
objective for DCMS and its sponsored bodies
— Develop strategic leadership across
a fragmented area, and enable shared development at a regional
level to deliver cost savings.
— Release capital investment to develop
the infrastructure and tools needed to develop the Knowledge Web.
— Clarify the role of Lottery Distributors,
and encourage them to adopt technical and organisational approaches
that will support the development of the Knowledge Web.
As part of the UK agenda for the Presidency
of the EU, plans are under way for a new Action Plan to promote
the creation and integration of a European Digital Cultural Content
Space, building on the ideas developed for the Knowledge Web.
The Knowledge Web uses existing technologies and builds on work
already underway throughout the public sector. Without any doubt,
joined-up online access will revolutionise the opportunities that
the cultural sector can offer to everyone. It will support the
knowledge society offering a knowledge entitlement to all.
Commitment to a shared national approach to
digital infrastructure will deliver Gershon type savings by co-location
of technical infrastructure and adoption of open source content
platforms. An analysis carried out for the New Opportunities Fund
NOF-digitise programme identified potential savings of approximately
10% across the £50 million programme."
Since this Briefing Sheet was produced, three
developments have taken place
1. The European Commission is consulting
on a Communication on the establishment of a European Digital
Library, a flagship proposal in the i2010 IT Strategy. The consultation
period closes on 20th January 2006. This follows a letter in April,
by six European Heads of State, led by France, to the Presidents
of the European Council and the Commission proposing the creation
of a European digital library—making Europe's cultural and
scientific record accessible for all. This was in part a reaction
to Google's plans to scan the contents of millions of books from
major English language research libraries.
2. In November 2005 the "Dynamic Action
Plan for the EU Co-ordination of digitisation of cultural and
scientific content" was published under the UK Presidency
of the EU [www.mla.gov.uk/resources/assets//D/Dynamic_Action_Plan_8792.pdf].
Developed by the National Representatives Group, this has the
following objectives:
— strengthening co-ordination;
— overcoming fragmentation;
— models to sustain and preserve;
— promote cultural and linguistic diversity;
and
— improving online access.
A senior member of MLA staff was nominated by
DCMS in 2001 to join a European National Representatives Group
on the Co-ordination of Digitisation Policies, as a response to
the eEurope 2002 Action Plan. MLA and DCMS worked closely together
during the UK Presidency of the EU to deliver the Dynamic Action
Plan.
3. In December 2005, a senior member of
MLA staff was seconded to the Department for Education and Skills
as "Technology Adviser: Culture and Learning". The purpose
of this secondment is to maximise the links between the education
and cultural sectors and to advise on how the cultural sector
can best support the DfES eStrategy.
RESPONSE TO
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
POSED BY
THE SELECT
COMMITTEE
1. The impact upon creative industries of
recent and future developments in digital convergence and media
technology.
Convergence and new media further expands the
creative opportunity:
— it offers new opportunities for creativity
in new multimedia communications formats;
— it makes it possible to access and
new digital content and product in a multiplicity of ways;
— it enables consumers to become creators,
and to actively engage in cultural and artistic debate;
— it opens up new markets; and
— it enhances opportunities for creative
learning.
In the context of the creative economy it will
be necessary for people to possess new and different skills. The
rate of technological change combined with the exponential growth
in product mean that early formal education and skills training
will be superseded even earlier by ongoing and accelerating change.
THERE ARE
THREATS AND
OPPORTUNITIES HERE
Threats
— Britain is already disadvantaged
by high levels of functional illiteracy.
— This is paralleled by poor achievement
in information and media literacies.
— Change is too fast for formal education
to keep up.
— The economic advantage of Britain's
manufacturing economic legacy is in danger of being lost to economies
that can adapt to new technologies and creative industries.
Opportunities
— Britain should build on its substantial
education systems to modernize and focus on creative industries.
— Creative industries are a growing
area of the economy.
— There are many areas of creative
activity at which Britain excels that will invest directly or
indirectly in the creative economy.
Britain's museums, libraries and archives are
the best places for creative learning at all levels and ages,
where they have spaces, capacity, digital infrastructure, workforce
capacity and a momentum to engage with media literacy and the
creation of new digital content. Highly trusted and valued by
their communities, they can do much to support and drive high
levels of media literacy.
2. The effects upon the various creative
industries of unauthorised reproduction and dissemination of creative
content, particularly using new technology; and what steps can
or should be taken—using new technology, statutory protection
or other means—to protect creators; Museums, libraries and
archives have a particular role to play in the debate about Intellectual
Property Rights and Digital Rights Management. As institutions,
they wish to enable the democratisation of access to information
and knowledge, whilst also seeking to respect the rights of creators
at all times and acting as creators themselves. The emergence
of the Open Source and Creative Commons models have stimulated
much debate in these areas.
In these circumstances the sector has welcomed
the review of IPR being undertaken by the Government in the Gowers
Review. MLA would like to see the emergence of policies that enable
a fair balance between access and the protection of the rights
of creators, and particularly the ways in which existing exceptions
can be implemented in a digital environment.
Specifically MLA would like to see:
— an agreed balance between intellectual
property rights and access, including a new model equivalent to
library lending for the digital age;
— accessibility for those with disabilities
to digital content;
— mechanisms which ensure that digital
content can be preserved for the long term;
— simple mechanisms to enable rights
clearance of "orphan works" for non-commercial use;
and
These key issues can be enabled or restricted
by the implementation of the IPR and DRM mechanisms.
3. The extent to which a regulatory environment
should be applied to creative content accessed using non-traditional
media platforms.
A regulatory environment is required to enable
the fair balance between the rights of creators and enabling access
to creative content, subject to the principles outlined above.
4. Where the balance should lie between
the rights of creators and the expectations of consumers in the
context of the BBC's Creative Archive and other developments.
MLA has recently agreed to join the Creative
Archive Licencing Group, along with Channel 4, the Open University,
Teachers TV, Community Channel, British Film Institute and the
BBC. MLA has taken this decision as we wish to actively engage
in the debate about how creative content can be made widely available
for non-commercial purposes, whilst at the same time preserving
the commercial interests of creators.
Museums, libraries and archives across the country
hold resources that support learning, discovery, analysis and
creativity, in much the same was as the BBC holds its archive,
and many of the issues that these institutions face are similar.
However, it is important to recognise that the open content licencing
is not the same things as supporting piracy. A key challenge is
to create the conditions where consumers are easily able to understand
how they can use and re-use content to support their own creativity,
as well as to understand how they cannot.
Consumers of digital content are supplied with
resources, such as movie trailers and adverts, which they are
encouraged to send to their friends and colleagues by the creators.
This content may be protected by a copyright symbol that means
that this act is technically illegal. In this environment the
current copyright and licencing systems cannot be easily understood
by consumers, and the challenge is to find ways that clearly establish
the boundary between an illegal act and enabling creativity. The
Creative Archive Licence is an interesting experiment in enabling
creativity, whilst possibly enabling commercial opportunities
that must be based upon respect for the rights of creators.
The BBC archive itself would be an enormous
asset to boost creativity and learning across the country. The
impact of this has already been ably demonstrated by the British
Pathe newsreel archive. This was digitised by funding from the
Big Lottery Fund, where MLA acted as Expert Advisers. The project
made over 6,000 hours of footage available, and has been enthusiastically
taken up by the public. At the same time, high quality film is
made available to schools through the authenticated National Education
Network, and has enabled the sale and re-use of material through
commercial licencing. It is a model of a win—win project
that is supporting creativity and learning, whilst also enabling
commercial success.
In this context, making the BBC Archive, along
with the archives of other broadcasters, more widely available
would be widely welcomed. MLA would like to see how this resource
could be made available by libraries as intermediaries, particularly
through the People's Network. This would build on the library
traditions of experience and achievement in delivering mediated
access to information and knowledge in an environment of respect
for intellectual property, intelligent management and trust by
communities.
In turn, subject to agreement on rights issues,
museums, libraries and archives can add enormous public value
to the archive by re-purposing the content to tell the stories
associated with collections and communities across the country.
The archive can be supplemented by the experiences and knowledge
of people across the country, enabling more consumers to become
media literate and engaging with their own communities.
28 February 2006
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