Editor’s note: In this edition, we talk with Rina Pantalony, chair, and Melissa Levine, vice chair, of the recently formed Open Copyright Education Advisory Network (OCEAN). OCEAN is a volunteer coalition of people committed to helping those who work in museums, libraries, and archives better understand copyright and develop relevant strategies for working with it. 

Led by a distinguished advisory board and faculty with deep practical and theoretical experience with copyright, OCEAN conducts education and facilitates discussion around complex issues of copyright. This fall they are conducting five free discussion sessions on current topics in copyright, and a workshop co-produced with the American Alliance of Museum on Managing Copyright Issues From Acquisition to Exhibition.

Rina Pantalony is also director of Copyright Advisory Services at Columbia University Libraries. Melissa Levine is director of the Library Copyright Office at the University of Michigan.

What prompted the formation of OCEAN?  

Copyright and related issues are foundational to our networked, digital world. The pandemic, especially, highlighted the pervasive, persistent need for guidance in day-to-day and strategic decisions. When copyright determinations are made in a responsible manner, it both lowers risk and ensures sustained ongoing access. We aim to address points of convergence across museums, libraries, archives, education—the cultural heritage community broadly. OCEAN’s advisory committee and faculty have decades of experience in these areas and have had the opportunity to get extensive feedback from our communities. By expanding the audience to include all members of the cultural heritage community, we have strength in scale, skill, and sustainability. We are committed to this kind of empowering education that supports stewardship and thoughtful, mission-aligned decision-making.

We are grateful for the support over several years from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, LYRASIS, and Ithaka S+R. We look forward to collaborating with CLIR to promote a holistic approach and shared vision to achieve scale and drive progress in cultural heritage practices and beyond. 

At your 2022 DLF Forum presentation, you said that how you teach and communicate must be accessible and equitable. Can you say more about that?

Copyright and related matters like contracts and ethics are embedded in the stewardship of collections, regardless of format. The issues are globally relevant. We are fortunate to have tools like Zoom that allow us to engage in open, free discussions  about the legal concepts, policy choices, and decision-making by and for practitioners in libraries, archives, and museums everywhere.

The faculty for our discussions represent a range of positions and institutions—from Carla Myers at Miami University Libraries to Margaret McKee from the Menil Collection and Anne Young, who edited the Rights and Reproductions handbook. Sandra Enmil from Yale and Anne Gilliand from UNC recently joined us. We are committed to having experienced people from all of the cultural heritage organizations, because the copyright concepts are the same. However, the fact scenarios and approaches to issues can differ in ways that make it helpful to center different experiences. The discussion sessions are available at no charge. In most cases, we are not recording sessions to encourage open discussions and questions. 

What are your plans for OCEAN going forward?

First and foremost, we hope to develop a community of practice by providing reliable, accessible resources. We mean accessible not only in terms of addressing varied visual and aural needs, but also in terms of being easily available to anyone—that is, sharing adaptable, accurate information vetted by expert practitioners with both legal and practical expertise in cultural heritage work. Ultimately, we would love these resources to be available in several languages. 

We are also thinking about tailored consulting services to help organizations look at options and make informed decisions. We would not be offering legal advice, but would instead be looking at practical aspects of copyright and collections management—contracts, ethics, permissions, international questions, cultural knowledge. Perhaps we would work with nonprofits and foundations to align their practices in this space.

Of course, we want to continue offering our Discussion Series. The response has been tremendous. We typically have a few hundred registrants for every session, and most of them attend. We have a low attrition rate with a remarkable level of participation. The number of questions posted in the chat speaks to active engagement.