The Future of Creative Archives

Paul Gerhardt’s (2005) article, entitled Creative Archive, examines the launching of the Creative Archive Licence in the United Kingdom. This Licence was launched on April 13, 2005, by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Channel 4 Television, the British Film Institute and the Open University (2005). It utilizes the principle concept of the Creative Commons and open-source projects by providing an alternative to copyright laws, which prevent open and free access to information. The Creative Archive enables the public to download and share content from these four organizations for free, in a “safe, legal framework” (2005, ¶ 8). The general public in the United Kingdom will now be able, via their personal computers, to:

· “search for legally cleared TV and radio content – from extracts
to whole programmes
· preview and download non-broadcast quality versions
· modify and create their own versions
· share with others – and with the BBC – on a non-commercial basis”
(2005, ¶ 7).

Gerhardt states that the Creative Archive was “inspired by the Creative Commons movement” (2005, ¶ 10). The Creative Commons is a non-profit organization whose objective is “to expand the range of creative work available for others to legally build upon and share” (Creative, 2005, ¶ 1). “As with Creative Commons, the Creative Archive Licence recognises and preserves copyright, but releases the opportunity to engage in non-commercial sharing and integration into personal derived work” (Gerhardt, 2005, ¶ 10).

The only restrictions placed on the audio and visual programmes available for download are: prohibiting the commercial use of the information; sharing of the documents within the United Kingdom only; and that credit must be given to the owners of the material (Gerhardt, 2005). These are all reasonable restrictions, although it is a shame that the information could not be shared world-wide. However, as the project develops momentum it could be made accessible world-wide, but it could also inspire other organizations to take notice and create their own forms of Creative Archives. The Archive however, is still in the pilot phase, which is not expected to be completed until the year 2006. The BBC has developed the Archive through public consultation “in an open and transparent manner” (2005, ¶ 14), which proved beneficial to both the public and the four organizations by allowing them to produce a product that is of interest to the public and to identify how it will be used by the public. In addition, by getting feedback from the public the Archive can stay on top of any problems they might not have considered or prepared for, such as broken links, problems with downloads or video and audio files that are not working (Raymond, 1998). The Archive effectively employs the concept that open-source programmes benefit from user feedback and are able to quickly spot problems and correct them.

The BBC’s main belief is that making the document available to the public will not only benefit the organizations involved with the project, but also “create public value itself” by encouraging creativity and entrepreneurial activities (Gerhardt, 2005, ¶ 17). Overall, the Creative Archive is a huge step in promoting products such as Creative Commons and making information available to everyone.

Another main purpose of the Creative Archive is the distribution of audio and video material for educational purposes. By releasing broadcast programmes through the Creative Archive, teachers are now able to meld these programmes into their curriculum (Gerhardt, 2005). The addition of Teachers’ TV programmes to the Archive has revealed “that teaching professionals are not only watching and downloading programmes but are also busy adapting content to suit their own needs” (Creative Archive Licence Group [CALG], 2005b, ¶ 1). This example illustrates that the concept of encouraging creativity through the Creative Archive is actually valid. The Creative Archive allows teachers to access the programmes that they feel will aid their class visually and to edit what they have downloaded in order to make it suitable for class exercises (CALG, 2005b).

The concerns raised with the Creative Archive are the same as those identified with the Creative Commons, including how to guarantee that the person who downloads the document will give credit where it belongs and not simply change some aspects in order to make a profit from it. Gerhardt (2005) explains that the pilot phase will clarify such issues as the number of people using the Archive content, how the content is being used, and if the users understand and respect the Creative Archive Licence. However, the article does not explain, in any further detail, the methods that will be used for tracking or tracing downloads and how they will be utilized. It appears that the Archive will use Digital Rights Management (DRM) “to help us identify our source material” (CALG, 2005a, ¶ 11). This means that a Video Watermarking technology will be embedded into the video clips released and will still be evident if the video is edited or changed (2005a). The BBC will also use GEO-IP filtering technology to guarantee that released material will only be shared within the United Kingdom (2005a). Through the use of this technology, the Creative Archive will be able to ensure that the regulations established in the Licence are respected.

Future organizations can learn how to use the Creative Commons, as the Creative Archive has, by using technology to enforce their regulations and ensuring a transparent system that welcomes feedback to meet the needs of the public. If the Creative Archive truly benefits everyone, “from people accessing the internet at home, children and adults using public libraries, to students at school and university” (BBC, 2003, ¶ 7) as it claims, then the future looks bright for this method of sharing information freely over the internet. The Creative Archive is therefore a positive example for the future use of the Creative Commons. By using this Archive as an example, many new ways of sharing information on the internet and increasing creativity can be developed and evolved from the Creative Commons initiative. The positive results from this project will encourage the future participation and involvement of other organizations.

Reference List

BBC News. (2003). Dyke to open up BBC archive. Retrieved November 11, 2005, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio
/3177479.stm

Creative Archive Licence Group. (2005a). FAQs. Retrieved October 14, 2005, from http://creativecarchive.bbc.co.uk/archives/faqs/index.html

Creative Archive Licence Group. (2005b). Teachers’TV gets results. Retrieved November 11, 2005, from http://creativecarchive.bbc.co.uk/news/archives/2005/
10/teacherstv_gets.html

Creative Commons. (2005). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 12, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_commons

Gerhardt, P. (2005, July). Creative archive. Ariadne, 44. Retrieved October 14, 2005, from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue44/gerhardt/

Raymond, E. S. (1998). Cathedral and the bazaar. First Monday, 3. Retrieved October 7, 2005, from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_3/raymond/

Profile of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)

There are many issues facing libraries today, notably making vast amounts of knowledge accessible, sharing resources, enforcing and improving information policies, as well as preserving all forms of information for future generations. It is difficult for libraries locally, let alone nationally, to agree on policies to adopt. Therefore, non-profit organizations like the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) are extremely important (Canadian Association of Research Libraries [CARL], 2005b).

Originating in 1976, CARL currently has 30 member institutions, including the University of Toronto, York University and Canada’s most prominent research libraries (CARL, 2005b). CARL aims “to promote the role of the research library,” (CARL, 2004c) by influencing legislation, encouraging scholarly communication and promoting resource-sharing between institutions. The three goals of CARL are:

1. To provide organized leadership for the Canadian research library community in the development of policies and programs which maintain and improve the cycle of scholarly communication;
2. To work toward the realization of a national research library resource-sharing network in the areas of collection development, preservation and access; and
3. To increase the capacity of individual member libraries to provide effective support and encouragement to postgraduate study and research at national, regional, and local levels
(CARL, 2005b).

CARL assumes a leadership role by working with other associations, including Canadian, American and International groups, on a variety of projects and by evaluating other projects and making recommendations for improvement (CARL, 2004b). It also provides leadership to these and other organizations by annually announcing the Award for Distinguished Service to Research Librarianship and the Award of Merit, which is given to deserving candidates (CARL, 2004a).

Carl is affiliated with the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR), among others. CARL is involved with these organizations in a variety of projects.

In 1997, the Federal Government created the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), for the purpose of determining what form of infrastructure was necessary to stimulate research and creativity among Canadians (Groen, 2000). This study was known as the Canadian National Site Licensing Project (Groen). In addition, the CFI provided grants to organizations practicing inter-institutional collaboration (Groen). At first, CFI did not believe that research libraries would be appropriate candidates for the grant (Groen). Consequently, Librarians initiated discussions with CFI, in order to convince them that libraries were suitable candidates for the grant (Groen). During these discussions, CARL “played a major role in encouraging dialogue and in transforming the situation to the benefit of libraries” (Groen, ¶ 11). CARL essentially played the role of a facilitator, to settle any disagreements between the groups and influence the discussions.

Upon finalizing their research, CFI concluded that a lead institution, which could award the grant, should be identified (Groen, 2000). Again, CARL “played a leadership role in galvanizing the support of the 28 University research library members and other smaller libraries to a total of 64 participating institutions” (Groen, ¶ 22). Each of these institutions donated one thousand dollars and along with a grant from a private organization, the required funding for the grant was reached (Groen).

In addition, the ARL offers assistance, guidance and funding to many of these associations, when required. CARL developed the Federal Relations and Information Policy program to examine and influence legislation relative to research libraries (Association of Research Libraries [ARL], 2005). It also “monitors Canadian information policies such as copyright and intellectual property and access to government information” (ARL, ¶ 2) by volunteering members for this program.

Between 2002 and 2005, CARL conducted a study entitled, “Optimizing the Transformation of Knowledge Dissemination: Towards a Canadian Research Strategy” (K. Shearer & Birdsall, 2005). CARL “provided administrative, logistical and funding support” (K. Shearer & Birdsall, p. 192) for this study and also received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). In return, when the SSHRC was going through the difficult process of evolving from a Granting Council to a Knowledge Council, CARL sent a letter commending them on their initiative in attempting this transformation (CARL, 2004b). Along with the letter, CARL included a Brief containing recommendations that members agreed would assist the SSHRC in the transformation process (CARL). In this way, CARL was able to come to the aid of the SSHRC when they required expertise and guidance, while at the same time receive monetary assistance from the same organization.

CARL is involved with many ongoing projects including an Information Literacy Working Group, which promotes information literacy in libraries, resource-sharing (CARL, 2005c) and E-Learning, which is focused on online learning (CARL, 2002).

Currently, CARL is involved in the Institutional Repositories Pilot Project and the collection and preservation of web-based publications. Institutional Repositories (IRs) “are digital collections that capture and preserve the intellectual output of a single or multi-university community” (M. K. Shearer, 2003, p. 91). IRs are believed to be the new way to share global research, particularly with developing countries (M. K. Shearer). The project will study the implementation of IRs and the lessons learned from the development of these new repositories at research libraries across Canada (CARL, 2005a). The findings from this project will help initiate the development of future IRs.

On their website, CARL has published a Draft Report, entitled, “Collection and Preservation of Web-Based Provincial/Territorial Government Publications: An Action Plan for CARL” (Hubbertz, 2005). This report examines how complete collections of government web-based publications are needed in every Canadian province and territory (Hubbertz). CARL believes that materials should be downloaded to a local server, following the current cataloguing practice used in Canada (Hubbertz). These records will then be made available on the Amicus database at Library and Archives Canada (Hubbertz). However, CARL realizes this will be no easy task as each province and territory is “different in size, wealth, population, and infrastructure” (Hubbertz, p. 15). By initiating talks with the Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada (APLIC), CARL will be able to assist legislative libraries to collect and preserve these government documents (Hubbertz). Besides opening discussions, CARL volunteers to raise public awareness on this issue and involve other interested associations in the cause (Hubbertz). As a final recommendation, CARL will meet six months after the acceptance of the Draft Report, to review what has been accomplished and decide on the next steps (Hubbertz).

Through its involvement with these various organizations and projects, CARL is accomplishing its goals of providing leadership, promoting resource-sharing, preserving documents, accessing knowledge and increasing the ability of research libraries to provide support to post graduate research nationally, regionally and locally (CARL, 2005b). Currently, CARL has moved into exploring how the internet and online databases can assist in the collection and preservation of scholarly documents. The internet also plays an important role in preserving and collecting Canadian government publications, and in facilitating the research of current and future scholars. CARL feels that by promoting E-Learning and Institutional Repositories, research will be made accessible around the world (M. K. Shearer, 2003).

Reference List

Association of Research Libraries. (2005). Federal relations and information policy. Retrieved September 25, 2005 from http://www.arl.org/info/

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2005a). CARL institutional repository project: Online resource portal. Retrieved September 15, 2005 from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/projects/institutional_repositories/
institutional_repositories-e.html

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2005b). Fact sheet. Retrieved September 15, 2005 from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/about/factsheet-e.html

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2005c). Information literacy working group. Retrieved September 15, 2005 from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/about/working_groups/info_lit_mandate-e.html

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2004a). CARL members' handbook. Ottawa: Author. Retrieved September 15, 2005, from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/about/pdf/handbook-e.pdf

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2004b). Social sciences and humanities research council of Canada. Retrieved September 15, 2005 from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/projects/sshrc/transformation_brief-e.html

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2004c). Strategic directions for the period 2004-2006. Ottawa: Author. Retrieved September 27, 2005, from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/about/pdf/sd2004-2006-e.pdf

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (2002). E-learning. Retrieved September 15, 2005 from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/projects/e_learning/e_learning-e.html

Groen, F. (2000). Canada's national initiative to advance access to electronic journals. Health Libraries Review, 17(4), 189-193.

Hubbertz, A. (2005). Collection and preservation of web-based Provincial/Territorial government publications: An action plan for CARL. Ottawa: Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Retrieved September 27, 2005, from http://www.carl-abrc.ca/projects/preservation/pdf/provincial_web-pubs_report.pdf

Shearer, K., & Birdsall, W. F. (2005). A Canadian strategy for the dissemination of research knowledge. Feliciter, 51(4), 192-194.

Shearer, M. K. (2003). Institutional repositories: Towards the identification of critical success factors. Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 27(3), 89-108.

Welcome to my first attempt at a blog!

I am a first year Masters student at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Information Studies. This is my blog for FIS 1311!! I have never had a blog before and though I've read many friends' blogs, I'm not quite sure what to put on mine other than the assignments I will be posting here for the course. Hopefully I will find something interesting to say.

I enjoy reading, listening to music and going to as many concerts as I can, swimming and horseback riding. I used to take riding lessons at Sunnybrook Stables and the namesake for this blog is my favourite horse Montego.

I have a dog named Jenny and 2 cats, Brandy and Misty.

I work part-time in the Toronto Public Library system. I started working there at the age of 14 as a page and worked my way up to Book Adjuster, Clerk Caretaker and finally Public Service Assistant. All of these experiences have led me to this program.

Best wishes for a successful semester and hope to hear from you all!
Erin