Commons:Volunteer Response Team/Release of big collections

Certain organisations have a large collection of visual material, such as galleries, libraries, archives and museums. These so-called en:GLAM institutions sometimes want to make parts of their digital assets, such as photographs of their objects, or photographs from their archives, available to the various Wikimedia projects on the basis of their own mission. These usually special and unique images are, of course, very welcome.

VRT through the years has been contacted to secure several permissions of GLAM organisations from all over the world. These collections most of the time consist of several thousands of images, and were uploaded by Wikimedia volunteers or for instanse by Wikimedians in Residence who work at the GLAM.

Not only GLAM, but also private persons sometimes have big collections with images that can be very useful for the Wikimedia projects. If you consider releasing your personal collection, but don't want to go through the upload process, you could try and contact a local GLAM, Wikimedia chapter, or volunteer (paid or unpaid) to support you.

General release permission letters

On the Wikimedia outreach wiki are examples of VRTS letters which can be used by GLAMs who wish to release their images to Wikimedia Commons. You will find a generic letter translated into different languages (French, German, Italian, Serbian, Portugese, Catalan), as well as examples of letters created on behalf of organizations. Learn more about the general VRT permission policies of Wikimedia Commons here.

Introduction

This page provides insight into how Wikimedians can help these GLAM institutions release their material and place it on Commons. This page deals only with copyrighted images, not images that are clear to be public domain before the start of the procedure.

Free content

On the Wikimedia projects, all files - including all photos and other images - should be freely distributable, and can also be used for commercial applications. In addition, each file should also be able to be modified at will. This free use is laid down in the license, which sets out the freedoms and limitations of use. The copyright holder of the file is the only one who can grant such a license.

The files used on the Wikimedia projects are located on a separate website, Commons. The rules laid down there are therefore leading: both for the Commons:Licensing and for the Volunteer Response Team working method. In order to verify that the file is actually under a 'free license', Wikimedia asks Commons for a source of origin for each file uploaded. When donating files from a GLAM setting, the setting must therefore be able to show the license. There is no room on the Wikimedia projects for files that have not been released under a license that allows further editing, distribution, and commercial use. Files without a valid license will be deleted. The precautionary principle. Files where there is doubt about the freedom to use the image are deleted.

The approach described below is intended to place files on Commons without problems.

GLAMs and free licenses

GLAM institutions sometimes want to release large numbers of files under a free license. The large number requires a specific approach because the copyright owner himself is unable or has no time to upload all the files on Commons. In addition, with large numbers of images, extra care must be taken because there is a greater risk of problems with reuse outside the Wikimedia projects of the often beautiful and special images. For these reasons, among others, the GLAMs often get help from others when uploading, such as an experienced Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons volunteer. This is a person who is not, of course, the owner of the copyright on the image. If this person uploads images, they do so on behalf of the GLAM institute. When uploading images to Commons, the license given must be stated, including the name of the copyright owner to be mentioned in the case of reuse. Again, care must be taken to ensure that the person who uploads the files is free of later legal problems.

The registration of the license and conditions of use set by the GLAM institution (often referred to as "permission") is recorded confidentially in the VRTS system. In simple terms, this is a system in which mail exchanges or agreements are recorded, including a ticket number. If the ticket number belonging to an image is known, the permission can always be looked up, checked or demonstrated.

The purpose of recording the permission in VRTS is therefore that the release of the image by the GLAM institution under the free license can always be checked by someone with access to the VRTS system. The importance of this is as follows:

1. Because images whose legal situation is unclear, or which are not under a free license are not accepted on the Wikimedia projects, the permission must be clear. This will prevent the images on Commons from being deleted.
2. If the image is reused outside of the Wikimedia projects, users rely on the license granted. If, in the future, anyone - anybody, at any time - objects to the (re)use of an image, permission can be demonstrated by accessing the VRTS system.

The recording of the permission must be searchable for each image that is part of an uploaded collection. This is the purpose of the procedure described below. Deviation from this approach is possible in consultation with an VRT volunteer, provided that the objective described is met.

Approach

If you wish to upload a large number of images to Commons, for example from an archive that you have permission to release or from the GLAM setting itself, please proceed as follows, after first reading this manual (Dutch manual for WiR's and GLAMs):

1. Make sure that the copyright situation of the images is clear. Please note that only the copyright owner has the right to change the images licensing status. For more information, see Commons:Copyright rules and Commons:Licensing. If in doubt, you can ask for advice in the Commons:WikiProject Permission requests or by sending an email to permissions-commonswikimedia.org.
2. Provide a clear description of the photos to be uploaded. So not "the pictures of Uncle Pete", but "the pictures of the East Frisian museum, made by <name> about <subject> on <date X and Y>". Think carefully about the file names in advance: make sure you have a unique, descriptive name, not "IMG3026".
3. Fill in the statement below and send it to the rightful claimant, e.g. the director of the archive or the museum that has the rights to the images, or the photographer himself. Ask the copyright holder to fill in this statement and email it to the VRT e-mail address: permissions-commonswikimedia.org, from a verifiable e-mail address. Ask the rightholder to include your e-mail address in the CC, to keep you informed.
4. The rightholder must, in the case of transferred rights (e.g. in the case of inheritance, or commissioned photos), be able to prove to the VRT agent that they are indeed the holder of the copyrights. VRT agents may ask for proof. The VRT agent should be able to perform a check on the copyright, the license and who the rightful claimant is.
5. Please do not upload the files to Commons yet, but wait for a reply and further instruction from an VRT agent. The Volunteer Response Team aims to process all tickets within 4 weeks.
6. The VRT agent will contact you if there are any questions: otherwise they will send you an email that the release is approved and that you can upload the files on Commons stating the ticket number. You may also receive additional instructions, such as using a specific category or doing a test upload with 3-5 images from the collection.
7. The VRT agent will tell you when you can start your upload.
8. When you start to upload the files (if you have sent a list of file names to VRT, do not change the file names as they appear on Commons due to VRT control), stating {{Permission pending|year=XXXXXX|month=XXXXX|day=XX}}. If this is necessary for technical reasons, please report the changed name to VRT in a reply to the previous e-mail. Please upload all files within 30 days after the first upload.
9. In a reply to the email with the previous confirmation of VRT, inform the agent when all the files have been uploaded: please mention your Wikimedia username and the date of the uploads in this email.
10. The VRT agent will check the uploads and include the permission with the files and may also remove the temporary category from the files.
11. You will receive a confirmation from the VRT agent about the implementation of the above.
12. Thank you very much for your help in expanding Commons with special pictures, now you can insert the pictures on the various Wikimedia projects.

Declaration of consent

Please see our basic release template, or create a tailor made text with the Wikimedia VRT release generator.