Implementing RightsStatements.org in the digital library and in search engines

Presentation given at the Kraemer Copyright Conference.

Schedule

It has been 5 years since RightsStatements.org debuted in April 2016. These standardized rights disclose the copyright status of digital items via URLs. The use of URLs to share standardized information is familiar to those acquainted with licensing systems such as Creative Commons, though RightStatements.org were created with the sole intention of informing users of copyright and re-use status while utilizing semantic web technology. Once the copyright status of an item is ascertained, rights statements can be comprehensively assigned to items without needing to own the rights to items. Adopting RightsStatements.org at an institution can be an effective means for a digital library to begin incorporating copyright information which can be then be meaningfully used in a search.

In 2019, digital libraries supported by the state-established non-profit Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative (FALSC) implemented RightsStatements.org. Following an announcement by the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) that RightsStatements.org would become mandatory for contributors, FALSC worked with libraries to solidify technical details behind the scenes and incorporate copyright status into searches. This presentation will cover that process, with emphasis on lessons learned and advice to libraries wishing to add rights statements to materials. Much of this will be through the lived experience of the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Library. At the FGCU Library, a single librarian was charged with the task of retroactively ascertaining copyright and then apply corresponding RightsStatement.org URLs to hundreds of records. The only means of adopting rights statements in a timely manner was through coordinating with FALSC.

The presentation will also cover how rights statements for digital library materials are used by projects like Europeana and DPLA, specifically being aware of search engines using rights statements and the software meant to interact with them.