Need, mission, vision: what we are doing and why

Need

With the jolting events of the COVID-19 crisis, and out of sheer necessity, libraries, archives and museums are required to move boldly and with confidence to ensure that copyright protected materials and objects in their collections can be shared and communicated digitally. Professionals working in cultural heritage need the knowledge, know-how and education to understand the degree of risk involved in communicating copyright protected content digitally to others both within and across borders.   OCEAN was created to meet this need.

Points of Convergence

Our vision is to inform and empower the cultural heritage  community, recognizing that copyright and related issues are foundational to our networked, digital world. There is a convergence of copyright issues across museums, libraries, archives, research, scholarship, and education, their impact on day-to-day and strategic decisions, as well as the distinct ways in which copyright turns up across these sectors. OCEAN aims to address these points of convergence.  By expanding audience to include all members of the cultural heritage community, we have strength in scale, skill and sustainability.

Scaling Up

OCEAN magnifies the capacity of copyright experts working with or within libraries, archives and museums to deliver quality education specifically designed to cover copyright issues critical to their respective missions. Our research shows that many if not most copyright advisory offices and experts cannot meet the demand for their services in a way that makes a significant difference. It’s a fundamental issue of scale and a significant requirement for infrastructure.