News & Blog Coverage

This page showcases articles, interviews, and blog posts about the Our Future Memory campaign. Explore how media outlets, bloggers, and allies are amplifying the call to protect our digital memory.

🌍 Latest Coverage

SDCC ’26: Why futurist Daniel Rasmus is talking to librarians at Comic-Con
Comics Beat – 26 July, 2026

🗞️ Futurist Daniel Rasmus spoke to librarians at San Diego Comic-Con about four possible futures for public libraries in an AI-driven 2036. He highlighted how libraries and comics face the same digital challenge: who controls access to, preservation of, and lending of digital content. Rasmus stressed the importance of community control, digital rights, and protecting access to stories and knowledge.

The Political Threats of Vanishing Culture and the Need to Protect Our Future Memory
EveryLibrary Institute – 21 May, 2026

🗞️ The Our Future Memory movement is calling for four essential digital rights for libraries, archives, museums, and other memory institutions: collecting, preserving, accessing, and collaborating on digital content. The article warns that the shift from physical ownership to restrictive digital licensing is causing “vanishing culture,” threatening public access to knowledge and creating a risk of a digital dark age. It urges memory institutions to join the movement and protect their ability to preserve and share digital history.

The Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance (LACA) Joins Our Future Memory
Internet Archive Europe – 12 May, 2026

🗞️ The UK’s Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance (LACA) has joined the “Our Future Memory” movement, supporting stronger digital rights for libraries and archives. As a major copyright advocacy group representing libraries, archives, and information professionals across the UK, LACA says fair copyright laws are essential for preserving and providing access to trusted knowledge in the digital age. The campaign continues to encourage more organisations to support the four digital rights of memory institutions: collecting, preserving, accessing, and sharing digital content.

Public Libraries Jump On Board the Our Future Memory Movement
Internet Archive Blogs – 01 May, 2026

🗞️ Public libraries across the U.S. are joining the “Our Future Memory” movement to support stronger legal rights for digital materials. New participants like Wellesley Free Library, St. Mary’s County Library, and the Minnesota Library Association emphasize four key rights: collecting, preserving, accessing, and sharing digital content. The movement highlights how essential digital access and cooperation are for modern libraries, especially as they work to ensure fair, long-term public access to knowledge.

COPPUL Joins the Global Movement to Protect Digital Rights for Memory Institutions
Internet Archive Canada – 07 April, 2026

🗞️ The Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries has joined a global coalition supporting digital rights for libraries, archives, and museums, endorsing four key rights: to collect, preserve, access, and share digital materials. Its endorsement highlights the importance of open access to cultural heritage and respect for Indigenous data sovereignty, alongside organizations like International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

CC Hosts Open Heritage Statement Event in Amsterdam
Creative Commons – 06 March, 2026

🗞️ Creative Commons and partners hosted an event in Amsterdam (2 March 2026) to highlight the Netherlands’ leadership in making cultural heritage openly accessible online. Experts discussed successes, challenges, and the importance of open licensing, international collaboration, and policy frameworks like the Open Heritage Statement to ensure equitable global access to heritage in the digital age.

Designed for Atoms, Broken for Bits: How Copyright Law is Locking Europe Out of Its Own Knowledge
Information Labs – 25 February, 2026

🗞️ Europe’s current copyright system is limiting libraries’ ability to collect, preserve, and provide access to digital knowledge, largely due to restrictive licensing and digital locks (DRM). Campaigns like Knowledge Rights 21’s Action Plan and Our Future Memory call for legal reforms so libraries can exercise the same rights online as they have offline—an issue becoming even more urgent as AI and digital research depend on accessible cultural and scientific data.

Our Future Memory Welcomes the International Council on Archives (ICA) as the Movement Keeps on Growing
Internet Archive Europe – 13 February, 2026

🗞️ The International Council on Archives (ICA) has signed the Statement on the Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions, strengthening the growing Our Future Memory movement. Joining IFLA and other cultural heritage organisations, ICA’s endorsement underscores the need to protect cultural memory as a public good and secure strong legal rights for libraries and archives in the digital age.

Boston Library Consortium Joins Statement Supporting Digital Rights for Memory Institutions
Internet Archive Blogs – 25 November, 2025

🗞️ The Boston Library Consortium, representing 26 research libraries in New England, has signed the Statement of Four Digital Rights for Memory Institutions, joining over forty global supporters. By endorsing the “4 Rights”—to collect, preserve, provide access, and cooperate—BLC reinforces that cultural memory must be safeguarded online just as in the physical world. Its support adds momentum to the growing worldwide movement advocating stronger legal protections for libraries and archives in the digital age.

Three New Organisations Join the Our Future Memory Movement
Internet Archive Europe – 21 November, 2025

🗞️ Our Future Memory has added three new signatories—the Boston Library Consortium, the Irish Universities Association Librarians’ Group, and Library Futures—strengthening global support for the “4 Rights” that protect libraries’ ability to collect, preserve, lend, and cooperate in the digital age. The new supporters emphasize that digital access is essential for safeguarding cultural memory. With translations expanding worldwide, the movement continues to grow.

New Dutch & Papiamento Translations of the “4 Rights” Statement — and a Call to Every Memory Institution to Sign
Internet Archive Europe – 6 October, 2025

🗞️ The Our Future Memory “4 Rights” statement has been translated into Dutch and Papiamento, expanding its reach thanks to Biblioteca Nacional Aruba and Maarten Zeinstra (IP Squared). Internet Archive Europe also joined as a signatory, reinforcing the global call for digital rights that enable memory institutions to collect, preserve, lend, and cooperate across borders. Voices from Aruba emphasize that making the statement available in local languages strengthens cultural identity and ensures access to digital heritage for all. Institutions are urged to sign and share the statement at ourfuturememory.org to help build a united movement for universal access to knowledge.

Wikimedia Signs Statement Supporting Digital Rights of Memory Institutions
Internet Archive Europe – 26 September, 2025

🗞️ The global campaign Our Future Memory has gained a major ally as Wikimedia signs the statement on the Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions — the rights to collect, preserve, lend, and cooperate. Renowned for platforms like Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata, Wikimedia’s endorsement underscores the shared mission of open knowledge communities and memory institutions to preserve and provide access to the world’s heritage. This commitment strengthens the international call for legal reforms that protect the ability of libraries, archives, and museums to safeguard and share humanity’s collective memory in the digital era.

Internet Archive Canada Signs “Our Future Memory” Statement:
A Commitment to the Digital Rights of Libraries, Archives, and Museums
Internet Archive Canada – 16 September, 2025

🗞️ The movement to secure digital rights for memory institutions has expanded with Internet Archive Canada signing the Our Future Memory statement. Joining IFLA and other global organizations, IAC reaffirms the call to safeguard the rights of libraries, archives, and museums in the digital age. The statement emphasizes that the freedoms to collect, preserve, collaborate, and provide access offline must also be protected online. With this commitment, IAC pledges to preserve Canada’s digital heritage, support equitable access to information, and stand alongside global partners in defending the public’s right to knowledge in an increasingly digital-first world.

IFLA Signs Statement Supporting Digital Rights of Memory Institutions
Internet Archive Blogs – 30 July, 2025

🗞️ The global campaign to secure digital rights for memory institutions has gained key momentum with IFLA signing the Statement on Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions. Representing over 1.5 million library professionals, IFLA reinforces the call to protect the rights to collect, preserve, lend, and cooperate in the digital age. As shared by Internet Archive Europe, this endorsement strengthens a growing international movement to ensure libraries can continue serving their communities in the digital era. Hear more from IFLA’s Stephen Wyber in the latest Future Knowledge podcast.

Strength in Numbers: IFLA Joins Our Future Memory + Future Knowledge Podcast Episode
Internet Archive – 30 July, 2025

🗞️ Building on the momentum of the Our Future Memory campaign, Internet Archive highlights two major developments strengthening the global push for digital rights for memory institutions. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has formally endorsed the “Four Rights for Memory Institutions,” uniting over 1.5 million library professionals behind the call to collect, preserve, provide access to, and cooperate around digital materials. To mark this milestone, a special episode of the Future Knowledge podcast brings together voices from around the world—including IFLA, LIBER, the Internet Archive, and national institutions in Aruba and Serbia—to reflect on the campaign’s rapid growth and its potential to transform policy. With broadening support, this movement is becoming a powerful catalyst to secure libraries’ rights in the digital age.

How ‘memory institutions’ can preserve our digital future
Times Higher Education – 18 July, 2025

🗞️ As digital licensing erodes universities’ ability to teach, research, and innovate, the Our Future Memory campaign by Internet Archive Europe calls on higher education to defend four essential digital rights: to collect, preserve, lend, and cooperate. From vanishing e-textbooks and overridden accessibility rights to AI research blocks and privacy-invasive licences, universities now face the same “renter’s trap” threatening libraries and archives. By embracing these rights and auditing unfair contracts, the academic sector can help secure equitable, sustainable access to knowledge for future generations.

#ProtectOurFutureMemory: Why Libraries Need Fair Contracts
Information Labs – 9 July, 2025

🗞️ The “Our Future Memory” campaign, launched at LIBER 2025, highlights the existential threat facing libraries, archives, and museums due to unfair digital licensing practices that erode their ability to preserve and provide access to knowledge. These institutions are trapped in a legal grey zone, where publishers impose exploitative terms—such as banning AI tools, overriding EU research rights, and withdrawing access arbitrarily—while escaping accountability. The campaign advocates for including public-interest institutions in the upcoming Digital Fairness Act through enforceable “black list” clauses that outlaw such abuses. Without urgent legal reform, Europe risks losing its collective digital memory to unchecked commercial control.

Protecting the Past to Power the Future: Internet Archive Europe Launches the Our Future Memory Campaign
Internet Archive – 4 July, 2025

🗞️ Internet Archive Europe has launched “Our Future Memory,” a global campaign advocating for the digital rights of libraries, archives, and museums to collect, preserve, lend, and cooperate online—just as they have always done offline. Announced at the LIBER 2025 Annual Conference, the initiative responds to growing concerns over restrictive digital licensing and calls for urgent, collective action to ensure equitable access to knowledge in the digital age.

Internet Archive Europe Joins LIBER 2025 Panel on “Four Rights for Libraries”
Internet Archive – 28 June, 2025

🗞️ At LIBER 2025, Internet Archive Europe will join a panel titled “Four Rights for Libraries,” spotlighting how traditional library rights—like collecting, preserving, lending, and cooperating—are being undermined by restrictive digital licensing. Moderated by Jeff Ubois, the session gathers legal and policy experts to propose a rights-based framework that empowers libraries in the digital age. With growing global support, including from the Government of Aruba, this initiative aims to ensure equitable, long-term access to knowledge and culture.

📤 Have Coverage to Share or Questions?

We’d love to feature it. If you’ve seen an article, blog post, or media mention about Our Future Memory, or if you have questions, please contact us at campaigns@internetarchive.eu and we’ll get back to you.

Let’s ensure future generations can access our collective memory.

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