Accessibility and Open GLAM

Abstract

This chapter explores accessibility’s potential against copyright’s barriers and incentives to analyze the impact on access for persons with a visual impairment communities. It argues that while legal measures currently set minimum compliance standards and provide copyright exceptions for in-copyright works and accessibility, they fail to adequately consider institutional obligations around out-of-copyright works and accessibility. The chapter analyzes accessibility initiatives and sensory art projects in order to critique IP and access policies in practice. Governments must reconsider policies impacting the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) sector ranging from public funding to revenue-generating obligations to allow for greater inclusivity. Open GLAM recognizes technology’s potential to free source objects from physical locations and conservation concerns, and it challenges efforts to conserve territory and authority around cultural heritage. The chapter concludes with workable suggestions for institutions, lawmakers, and the plural public and recommends gradated access policies more aligned with social inclusion goals.