[OpenGLAM] CC0 metadata from American art museums [was: Minneapolis Institute of Arts release metadata CC0]

[Rob Lancefield on lists]

Hi Sarah and all,

As a small-museum example, metadata from the Davison Art Center at 
Wesleyan University has been CC0 since 10/2/2013. The DAC collection 
consists chiefly of 18,000 prints and 6,000 photographs, with strongest 
holdings in European and American prints. So, hey: CC0 "back" in 2013 
from a U.S. art museum, albeit a tiny one nested within a university.

For example, if you go to http://dac-collection.wesleyan.edu/Obj489 , 
that object page has a small link labeled "Download core metadata for 
this object as LIDO"; the metadata each such link pulls is marked as CC0 
in the LIDO record's "recordRights" section. So far, this metadata is 
downloadable only as single-object LIDO in that way. As soon as I can,* 
I plan to build ways to offer it in more formats and in batches.

On a related note, the DAC Open Access Images policy has been in place 
since 12/12/2012 for all PD works for which we have suitable images:

http://www.wesleyan.edu/dac/open/openaccess.html

And you can browse the 2,000+ downloadable DAC Open Access Images we've 
been able to produce so far; almost all of them represent prints.

http://dac-collection.wesleyan.edu ("DAC Open Access Images" button)

We'll be adding more as digital imaging of the collection proceeds.

best regards,
Rob

*This phased approach is due to staff bandwidth (mine); our entire 
museum operation has a staff of three, and there are always loads of 
contending priorities.

Rob Lancefield
Manager of Museum Information Services / Registrar of Collections
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University
301 High Street, Middletown CT 06459-0487 USA
rlancefield [at] wesleyan [dot] edu  |  tel. 860.685.2965

On 10/18/14 2:51 PM, Sarah Stierch wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I was lamenting on Twitter this week that no American art museums[1][2]
> had opened their metadata CC0, which is stifling work at the Wikidata
> project, WikIProject Sum of All Paintings, and just continues to put the
> USA in what feels like a geological age behind the EU regarding metadata
> licensing.
>
> This morning I woke up to find out that the Minneapolis Institute of
> Arts has released their metadata for over ~90,000 artworks CC0.
>
> https://github.com/artsmia/collection
>
> I was talking with staff members on Twitter today - and mentioned that
> their PD artworks are still held under a very restrictive copyright, and
> you have to pay for the works. They informed me that they are in the
> process of opening up their PD works very soon.
>
> Yahoooooo
>
> -Sarah
>
>
>
> [1] The Cooper-Hewitt has released their metadata under CC0 but it is a
> design museum.
> [2] The Walters Art Museum has licensed it's data under CC BY...hoping
> they will change that soon.
> [2] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_sum_of_all_paintings
>
> --
>
> Sarah Stierch
>
> -----
>
> Diverse and engaging consulting for your organization.
> www.sarahstierch.com <http://www.sarahstierch.com/>