#3 Policy Recommendation Area
Prioritise purposeful digitisation supporting reuse of cultural heritage collections
3.1 Prioritise digitisation funding programmes, legislation and policies facilitating reuse
Target Stakeholders
Policy makers at the EU and national level
Recommendation
To support the growth of creative collaborations in the cultural sector digitisation for open use and reuse should be recognised as a priority in programmes and other funding streams available at the EU and national levels. One possible idea is to introduce a new European legal instrument for ensuring access and (re) use of high-quality cultural heritage resources coming from CHIs collections*. Collection holders willing to open their own ready-for-digitisation collections for reuse, and thus create space for various collaborations that boost innovation and creativity (in education, research, cultural and creative industries), deserve to be put forward, promoted and financially supported.
Legal frameworks that are applicable to cultural heritage institutions and internal policies need to thoroughly and cohesively support reuse of heritage collections. Policies need to incentivise this, while also providing legal safeguards (like a dedicated exception) for cultural heritage professionals to easily clear rights to make cultural heritage available online, and legal safeguards for users of digital cultural heritage in their reuse activities. CHIs must be prevented from claiming copyright over content where they hold no rights (e.g., making users seek licences and pay fees to use works that should be free for everyone to use).
