Risk Area: Policy
Policy and risk mitigation development
Studies show that few institutions have comprehensive policies in place to address risks associated with open access, such as data misuse, ethical considerations, and copyright breaches. GLAM professionals emphasise the need for clearer policies and procedural workflows to manage these challenges effectively, and minimise the risks of harm or misrepresentation.
“We are not placing all our collections out there to be available due to lack of procedural workflow in obtaining permissions to digitise and display collection items. This is a missed opportunity.”
Library, United States of America
Lack of formal policies for managing risks associated with open access.
Insufficient workflows for handling legal, ethical, technical, operational, financial and geopolitical challenges.
Create a comprehensive open access policy: Draft a policy that outlines legal, ethical, and technical guidelines for open access. Include clear procedures for rights management, community consultation, and user guidelines.
Establish a takedown procedure: Develop a formal procedure for handling requests to remove or restrict access to certain items.
Adopt a risk assessment checklist: Regularly assess risks and update policies to reflect changing needs, resources, or cultural sensitivities.
Open access policy templates: Available from Creative Commons or GLAM organisations, providing frameworks for developing open access policies.
Terms of Use Policy template by the 2024 Policy Template Working Group of the Creative Commons Open Culture Platform [available in various languages in this Medium article].
GLAM-E Lab’s External Open Access Policies document containing a model open access policy designed to be adopted by cultural institutions and organisations and posted on their publicly facing websites.
GLAM-E Lab’s Internal Open Access Policies document setting out policies based on laws in the United States and United Kingdom that will help you identify works in your collection that may be good candidates for your open access programme.
Takedown policy templates: Customise a takedown policy template for handling requests to restrict access.
Takedown policy template of the Risk Management Toolkit for Open GLAM.
Risk assessment templates: Use and adapt a risk assessment template to evaluate potential risks before making new materials publicly accessible.
Risk assessment template of the Risk Management Toolkit for Open GLAM.
Wellcome Collection: Policies and Plans
Wikimedia Foundation: Open Access Policy | Licensing policy
Bethel University Library: SPARK Policies | Author Copyright Guidelines for SPARK (Digital Commons Institutional Repository)
German Archaeological Institute: Publication Strategy | Data Protection Information
University of Wyoming Libraries: Digital Collection Policies
Emory University: Open Access Policy
For more inspiration, check the Open GLAM Survey version 1.0 and version 2.0, as well as the Open GLAM Medium Publication.
How this risk area connects to other risk areas
Policy acts as the connective tissue across all risk areas. Without clear policies, workflows, and decision-making frameworks, institutions are forced into reactive responses to legal challenges, ethical concerns, technical failures, financial pressure, or geopolitical interference. Well-defined open access, takedown, and risk assessment policies enable consistent, transparent, and accountable action across all risk dimensions.
Use cases
Collection managers don’t make certain items open access, because there is a lack of clear procedural workflows for obtaining permissions. This can result in legal and copyright issues, impacting the institution’s ability to share its full range of collections effectively.
Curators at smaller, understaffed institutions don’t make all their collections open access, because they lack the resources and trained personnel to manage rights and permissions accurately. This could lead to mismanagement of copyright information, affecting the institution’s credibility and the quality of its publicly accessible collections.
Institutional decision makers don’t make collections open access, because there is no unified policy or clear leadership direction. This results in inconsistent approaches to monetisation and accessibility, impacting the institution’s ability to maintain a cohesive strategy for sharing and protecting its collections.
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