Copyright, Museums and Licensing of Art Images

Copyright, Museums and Licensing of Art Images

Access to art images –especially images of art works in museum collections here and abroad – is essential to teaching, learning, research and scholarship in the history of art, and indeed in all the many fields engaged with the study of visual culture. Such access has been rendered both easier and more problematic by the emergence of new technologies. In 2009, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation awarded a research grant to Dr. Kenneth D. Crews, Director of the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University Libraries. Dr. Crews proposed to undertake a study of art museum image licensing concepts, terminology and policies, including “terms and conditions” for the use of art images. The principal objectives of this study were to gather a representative sample of art museum license agreements; to analyze their similarities and differences with respect to both terminology and policies; and to produce a systematic inventory of the range of issues addressed in and posed by such licensing agreements and the different ways in which museums have responded to these issues. This inventory and analysis has sought to provide insight into the issues of copyright and licensing that are of concern to art museums and to educational and scholarly users of art images.

Kenneth D. Crews

June 2010 - 2012

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