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December 16, 2024

Libraries in a Material World: The Role of Repair, Energy, and Education in Library Sustainability

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a print book becoming a book on a computer screen

October 7, 2024

CDL's Future Depends on Us All: A Response to Scholarly Kitchen's "Lessons Learned from a Fair Use Defeat"

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illustration of four people on a Zoom screen. A person and a cat sit in front.

September 10, 2024

The Past, Present, and Future of the Copyright Specialist

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person reaching through a series of screens for a book

September 3, 2024

How Much Does Obama's Summer Reading List Cost Your Library?

Jennie Rose Halperin

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one hand taking the dome of a Capitol building and another hand putting a bill inside

June 17, 2024

Legislation Round-Up

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fists holding protests signs with library cards, smart phones, and libraries on them

June 17, 2024

Litigation Round-Up

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statue of liberty with a mask

March 29, 2024

Fighting for the Right to Internet: Amicus Brief in Sony v. Cox

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protest signs with hands

March 21, 2024

Hachette v Internet Archive: The Case Marches On

Jennie Rose Halperin

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hands holding phones

February 8, 2024

Four Questions with ALA Presidential Candidates Sam Helmick and Ray Pun

January 30, 2024

Four Questions with Camille Thomas

On September 26, 2023, Library Futures hosted Unacceptable Loss: Video Game Preservation in Libraries and Archives with Phil Salvador (Video Game History Foundation), Laine Nooney (NYU and Unboxing Pod,) and Meredith Rose (Public Knowledge) discuss Salvador's new report "Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States." Participants kindly agreed to answer a few more questions from the audience. Thinking about the SAA panel that featured archivists who presently work at gaming companies - do you see paths forward for collaboration with contemporary companies in creating a larger archival infrastructure and carving out a niche for video game archivists, the same way that we have museum archivists, corporate archivists, a/ archivists, etc.? Phil: This is something we’d love to see, but it would involve those ongoing conversations and trust-building we talked about during the panel. The game industry has typically worked from the viewpoint that internal materials are trade secrets, even going back decades, and I think building relationships with developers to show that their materials can be handled sensitively — especially working with smaller independent developers — is a great place to start. Did your survey investigate streamer playthroughs posted on YouTube as a means for historical research? Phil: We didn’t look into this in the study, but playthrough videos, livestreams, let’s plays, etc. are absolutely an alternative way to preserve and document video games, especially for (as we talked about) games that cannot be traditionally preserved as standalone objects. For the study, we focused on access to the original games since we were concerned about copyright policy around games as archival objects, but it would be interesting to study examples where playthroughs have been used as surrogates for research, especially for rare or difficult-to-play titles. Have any of the preservationist initiatives addressed 3rd Party "Knockoff" consoles? (Not just the multiple-games-built-in ones or 3rd Party hardware that flooded the market when licensing for OG hardware expired in the mid 2000s... thinking more along the lines of the Nintendo Famicom knockoff console I had as a kid called the "Good Boy" for example!). Phil: This is one of the many areas where the gaming community is doing a great job documenting it. The fan-run Bootleg Games Wiki and Unauthorizon are doing excellent work; I think it makes sense for institutions to support these types of efforts rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Could you tell us a bit more about playing retro games on the Internet Archive? I hear they have been working with the MAME developers. Phil: The Internet Archive has been doing some pioneering work in building in-browser emulation tech, often collaborating with (as you mentioned!) with emulator developers to port their applications to Javascript. Jason Scott actually wrote about this program just last week: https://blog.archive.org/2023/09/20/a-quarter-in-a-quarter-million-out-10-years-of-emulation-at-internet-archive/ The Internet Archive makes a fair use argument for their game collections, which is different from the DMCA exemptions we’re pushing for. So while what they’re doing doesn’t directly affect the copyright situation for other libraries and archives, I could imagine libraries continuing to build on the emulation tech they’ve developed as we explore remote access for games. I am an archivist. My assumption for people researching products created by businesses, for example wine or video games. From my perspective, the records that document the creation, drafts, decisions made during the creation process are also critically important. What is the perspective of the Game Libraries on also collecting the records? It makes me sad to see the separation of records from products, especially if the intention is research. Phil: We talked about this during the panel, but generally we see one of three things: either the materials are quickly discarded because they’re not considered important; they’re kept under private control by larger companies because they’re believed to be sensitive; or they’re difficult or impossible to collect, like Slack communications. Game history institutions do try to collect these materials, though they often come from individuals who kept their own documentation rather than from companies. This is an ongoing culture-shift conversation we’re all having with the game industry. Do particular fan projects of "remaking" or "remastering" older games fall under the preservation discourse as well? (i.e., the ill-fated Chrono Trigger 3d remake from the early 2000s that ended due to a cease-and-desist from Square Enix, while Chrono Trigger hasn't been subject to any official treatment in "remake" capacities since the Nintendo DS version I think?) Phil: I have some personal experience with this, having been a hobbyist fangame developer when I was younger! I think these are works worth preserving for the same reason that, say, mixtapes or underground comics are worth preserving, but because of the legally murky nature of fanworks like that, for the sake of simplicity, we’re not really focusing on them with this current copyright push. But I know that institutions do collect games like these! How do you think the recent Hachette v. IA case (and its ruling) will influence game preservation and possible future legal cases? I am thinking here about all the game emulations available on Internet Archive or just general library access. I know at MPOW we used to digitize films and tv that are not available streaming for class reserves but following the case, we are only putting the DVDs on hold and most students do not have DVD players. Brandon: The Hachette ruling (which is a district court opinion currently on appeal, so things could well change) can be distinguished from the kinds of uses most preservation folks make in a variety of ways, including (perhaps most importantly) that the books that were at issue in that case are commercially available right now. The court’s primary concern in Hachette was the alleged unfair competition between the IA’s copies and the ones sold by publishers. In cases where the vendor is unwilling or (as often) unable to offer a work for sale commercially, the fair use calculus should be different. The IA’s argument has been, “If we own a physical copy, we should be able to digitize it, take it off the shelf, and lend a digital copy instead, period.” If that argument fails, there are many others available that can still justify preservation and access to a wide variety of cultural materials. The Apple v. Correllium case is worth reading, because it shows how research access to software can be a transformative fair use, even when the software is still commercially available. Are there any legislative efforts currently to mandate Library of Congress archival copies? Phil: I know that the Library of Congress does collect some video games when they’re submitted to them, including source code, but there’s no mandatory deposit for video games. I’m not sure beyond that, but I know getting game donations can be especially tricky since most games are no longer issued in physical form, and the digital file formats/standards can vary dramatically. What are your thoughts on fan re-implementations of games, such as OpenRCT2 for RollerCoaster Tycoon 2? Phil: See the question below about the porting/modding community! Laine, in general, have you run into any requests for newer games that also suffer from preservation issues? I'm thinking of net flash games specifically which I've done some research on. I don’t typically work on materials from the early 2000s-2010s, but it’s definitely and impending problem for those who do. The entire early culture of Facebook games, for instance, Flash games like you mentioned, and of course even lots of early mobile. The proliferation of games on internet platforms means there’s entire swathes of game history that are likely gone. It will take alot of footwork from the next gen of historians, archivists, collectors, and technologists to track down executables, build emulators, and collect documents. Rather than taking on the copyright or IP issues, would it make sense to argue that, if a platform is past end of support (Win3/NT, MacOS 8, PS2, etc.) then the software published for those platforms is "at risk" and should be preserved? Brandon: Unfortunately, you can’t ignore the copyright issues. Fortunately, fair use permits all the major steps in a preservation workflow. (See the SPN Fair Use Best Practices for more information.) Unfortunately, broad access isn’t necessarily a step in a preservation workflow. So it’s easy enough to say that material that is at risk should be preserved. It gets harder to say, “...and made accessible under XYZ circumstances to ABC people.” It’s not impossible, at all, but it’s where things get more interesting. Archiving video game music? YouTube videos featuring music pieces get taken down very often. Phil: Apart from official soundtrack albums, I think this is one of those areas that’s always going to remain in the community’s hands (in terms of, say, being able to access game music en masse on YouTube). I love pointing to VGMPF as an example of what the community is doing. It’s not something VGHF is focusing on, though we doe collect original materials from composers, audio designers, etc., which falls more into traditional archival collections. Is the Center also working to advocate for unpublished content, such like are prevalent in Archives? Phil: We do get unreleased and unfinished video games, which are usually called “prototypes” by the game community. In fact, our founder Frank Cifaldi got his start in game preservation by recovering game prototypes! These are absolutely important materials, especially when we can analyze and dissect earlier versions of games or titles that never made it to shelves. For a great example of the community’s efforts around this, check out Hidden Palace, a website dedicated to sharing and documenting what I would describe as unpublished draft versions of video games. How has the porting/modding community helped or harmed access? Are they willing to work with archivists? Phil: There are so many examples where fan-made ports, modifications, and re-implementations have made games more accessible. In fact, most of the widely available game emulators, including the ones used by the Internet Archive, were developed by the community. I can say that at least at VGHF, we work closely with these communities to help us work with unusual game materials, because these are THE experts on these topics! If we’re working with (for a real-life example) a prototype Nintendo 64 game, we know the people in the Nintendo 64 hacking community who we can contact for support. To deviate from this question a little bit, what’s also been really interesting is how these fan-run efforts interact with the commercial marketplace. Oftentimes, fan modifications and re-implementations end up in a gray area that I think publishers are reluctant to encourage (for instance, a modification that allows a game to run on a modern computer by removing its copy protection). The good news is that we’re seeing more game publishers tapping into these sorts of community resources in approved, official ways. A great example of Nightdive Studios, a company that specializes in game reissues; they hired a community member known for developing game re-implementations and now have him handling the official re-releases of those same games. We’re hopeful that publishers will continue to embrace or at least tolerate those types of efforts. My question is specifically about the methodology you guys used to calculate that 87% number...in the report you mention the use of Moby of course and the limitation of the report in that it only focuses on the United States. Do you guys have any plans for doing work in an international context? If you do, can you make a wildly irresponsible guess as to what that number might look like in that context? :D Phil: MobyGames does include international games! But since (as Brandon mentioned) we did this study for the sake of moving the needle on US copyright law, we purposely focused on titles with US-specific releases. If we broadened our scope internationally, I think the numbers would be lower. Certain ecosystems would shift (for instance, British computer games from the 1980s tend to be more available than American computer games from the 1980s, since that’s the source of a lot of British gaming nostalgia), but we’d also start including games that have an inherently international, non-region-based release, such as web browser games or mobile games. These tend to be VERY volatile, especially mobile games. With an expanded scope, I think we'd want to keep focusing on specific ecosystems too, because that could show us where the region-specific availability gaps are that libraries could be focusing around.

On September 26, 2023, Library Futures hosted Unacceptable Loss: Video Game Preservation in Libraries and Archives with Phil Salvador (Video Game History Foundation), Laine Nooney (NYU and Unboxing Pod,) and Meredith Rose (Public Knowledge) discuss Salvador's new report "Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States." Participants kindly agreed to answer a few more questions from the audience. Thinking about the SAA panel that featured archivists who presently work at gaming companies - do you see paths forward for collaboration with contemporary companies in creating a larger archival infrastructure and carving out a niche for video game archivists, the same way that we have museum archivists, corporate archivists, a/ archivists, etc.? Phil: This is something we’d love to see, but it would involve those ongoing conversations and trust-building we talked about during the panel. The game industry has typically worked from the viewpoint that internal materials are trade secrets, even going back decades, and I think building relationships with developers to show that their materials can be handled sensitively — especially working with smaller independent developers — is a great place to start. Did your survey investigate streamer playthroughs posted on YouTube as a means for historical research? Phil: We didn’t look into this in the study, but playthrough videos, livestreams, let’s plays, etc. are absolutely an alternative way to preserve and document video games, especially for (as we talked about) games that cannot be traditionally preserved as standalone objects. For the study, we focused on access to the original games since we were concerned about copyright policy around games as archival objects, but it would be interesting to study examples where playthroughs have been used as surrogates for research, especially for rare or difficult-to-play titles. Have any of the preservationist initiatives addressed 3rd Party "Knockoff" consoles? (Not just the multiple-games-built-in ones or 3rd Party hardware that flooded the market when licensing for OG hardware expired in the mid 2000s... thinking more along the lines of the Nintendo Famicom knockoff console I had as a kid called the "Good Boy" for example!). Phil: This is one of the many areas where the gaming community is doing a great job documenting it. The fan-run Bootleg Games Wiki and Unauthorizon are doing excellent work; I think it makes sense for institutions to support these types of efforts rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Could you tell us a bit more about playing retro games on the Internet Archive? I hear they have been working with the MAME developers. Phil: The Internet Archive has been doing some pioneering work in building in-browser emulation tech, often collaborating with (as you mentioned!) with emulator developers to port their applications to Javascript. Jason Scott actually wrote about this program just last week: https://blog.archive.org/2023/09/20/a-quarter-in-a-quarter-million-out-10-years-of-emulation-at-internet-archive/ The Internet Archive makes a fair use argument for their game collections, which is different from the DMCA exemptions we’re pushing for. So while what they’re doing doesn’t directly affect the copyright situation for other libraries and archives, I could imagine libraries continuing to build on the emulation tech they’ve developed as we explore remote access for games. I am an archivist. My assumption for people researching products created by businesses, for example wine or video games. From my perspective, the records that document the creation, drafts, decisions made during the creation process are also critically important. What is the perspective of the Game Libraries on also collecting the records? It makes me sad to see the separation of records from products, especially if the intention is research. Phil: We talked about this during the panel, but generally we see one of three things: either the materials are quickly discarded because they’re not considered important; they’re kept under private control by larger companies because they’re believed to be sensitive; or they’re difficult or impossible to collect, like Slack communications. Game history institutions do try to collect these materials, though they often come from individuals who kept their own documentation rather than from companies. This is an ongoing culture-shift conversation we’re all having with the game industry. Do particular fan projects of "remaking" or "remastering" older games fall under the preservation discourse as well? (i.e., the ill-fated Chrono Trigger 3d remake from the early 2000s that ended due to a cease-and-desist from Square Enix, while Chrono Trigger hasn't been subject to any official treatment in "remake" capacities since the Nintendo DS version I think?) Phil: I have some personal experience with this, having been a hobbyist fangame developer when I was younger! I think these are works worth preserving for the same reason that, say, mixtapes or underground comics are worth preserving, but because of the legally murky nature of fanworks like that, for the sake of simplicity, we’re not really focusing on them with this current copyright push. But I know that institutions do collect games like these! How do you think the recent Hachette v. IA case (and its ruling) will influence game preservation and possible future legal cases? I am thinking here about all the game emulations available on Internet Archive or just general library access. I know at MPOW we used to digitize films and tv that are not available streaming for class reserves but following the case, we are only putting the DVDs on hold and most students do not have DVD players. Brandon: The Hachette ruling (which is a district court opinion currently on appeal, so things could well change) can be distinguished from the kinds of uses most preservation folks make in a variety of ways, including (perhaps most importantly) that the books that were at issue in that case are commercially available right now. The court’s primary concern in Hachette was the alleged unfair competition between the IA’s copies and the ones sold by publishers. In cases where the vendor is unwilling or (as often) unable to offer a work for sale commercially, the fair use calculus should be different. The IA’s argument has been, “If we own a physical copy, we should be able to digitize it, take it off the shelf, and lend a digital copy instead, period.” If that argument fails, there are many others available that can still justify preservation and access to a wide variety of cultural materials. The Apple v. Correllium case is worth reading, because it shows how research access to software can be a transformative fair use, even when the software is still commercially available. Are there any legislative efforts currently to mandate Library of Congress archival copies? Phil: I know that the Library of Congress does collect some video games when they’re submitted to them, including source code, but there’s no mandatory deposit for video games. I’m not sure beyond that, but I know getting game donations can be especially tricky since most games are no longer issued in physical form, and the digital file formats/standards can vary dramatically. What are your thoughts on fan re-implementations of games, such as OpenRCT2 for RollerCoaster Tycoon 2? Phil: See the question below about the porting/modding community! Laine, in general, have you run into any requests for newer games that also suffer from preservation issues? I'm thinking of net flash games specifically which I've done some research on. I don’t typically work on materials from the early 2000s-2010s, but it’s definitely and impending problem for those who do. The entire early culture of Facebook games, for instance, Flash games like you mentioned, and of course even lots of early mobile. The proliferation of games on internet platforms means there’s entire swathes of game history that are likely gone. It will take alot of footwork from the next gen of historians, archivists, collectors, and technologists to track down executables, build emulators, and collect documents. Rather than taking on the copyright or IP issues, would it make sense to argue that, if a platform is past end of support (Win3/NT, MacOS 8, PS2, etc.) then the software published for those platforms is "at risk" and should be preserved? Brandon: Unfortunately, you can’t ignore the copyright issues. Fortunately, fair use permits all the major steps in a preservation workflow. (See the SPN Fair Use Best Practices for more information.) Unfortunately, broad access isn’t necessarily a step in a preservation workflow. So it’s easy enough to say that material that is at risk should be preserved. It gets harder to say, “...and made accessible under XYZ circumstances to ABC people.” It’s not impossible, at all, but it’s where things get more interesting. Archiving video game music? YouTube videos featuring music pieces get taken down very often. Phil: Apart from official soundtrack albums, I think this is one of those areas that’s always going to remain in the community’s hands (in terms of, say, being able to access game music en masse on YouTube). I love pointing to VGMPF as an example of what the community is doing. It’s not something VGHF is focusing on, though we doe collect original materials from composers, audio designers, etc., which falls more into traditional archival collections. Is the Center also working to advocate for unpublished content, such like are prevalent in Archives? Phil: We do get unreleased and unfinished video games, which are usually called “prototypes” by the game community. In fact, our founder Frank Cifaldi got his start in game preservation by recovering game prototypes! These are absolutely important materials, especially when we can analyze and dissect earlier versions of games or titles that never made it to shelves. For a great example of the community’s efforts around this, check out Hidden Palace, a website dedicated to sharing and documenting what I would describe as unpublished draft versions of video games. How has the porting/modding community helped or harmed access? Are they willing to work with archivists? Phil: There are so many examples where fan-made ports, modifications, and re-implementations have made games more accessible. In fact, most of the widely available game emulators, including the ones used by the Internet Archive, were developed by the community. I can say that at least at VGHF, we work closely with these communities to help us work with unusual game materials, because these are THE experts on these topics! If we’re working with (for a real-life example) a prototype Nintendo 64 game, we know the people in the Nintendo 64 hacking community who we can contact for support. To deviate from this question a little bit, what’s also been really interesting is how these fan-run efforts interact with the commercial marketplace. Oftentimes, fan modifications and re-implementations end up in a gray area that I think publishers are reluctant to encourage (for instance, a modification that allows a game to run on a modern computer by removing its copy protection). The good news is that we’re seeing more game publishers tapping into these sorts of community resources in approved, official ways. A great example of Nightdive Studios, a company that specializes in game reissues; they hired a community member known for developing game re-implementations and now have him handling the official re-releases of those same games. We’re hopeful that publishers will continue to embrace or at least tolerate those types of efforts. My question is specifically about the methodology you guys used to calculate that 87% number...in the report you mention the use of Moby of course and the limitation of the report in that it only focuses on the United States. Do you guys have any plans for doing work in an international context? If you do, can you make a wildly irresponsible guess as to what that number might look like in that context? :D Phil: MobyGames does include international games! But since (as Brandon mentioned) we did this study for the sake of moving the needle on US copyright law, we purposely focused on titles with US-specific releases. If we broadened our scope internationally, I think the numbers would be lower. Certain ecosystems would shift (for instance, British computer games from the 1980s tend to be more available than American computer games from the 1980s, since that’s the source of a lot of British gaming nostalgia), but we’d also start including games that have an inherently international, non-region-based release, such as web browser games or mobile games. These tend to be VERY volatile, especially mobile games. With an expanded scope, I think we'd want to keep focusing on specific ecosystems too, because that could show us where the region-specific availability gaps are that libraries could be focusing around.

October 4, 2023

Unacceptable Loss: Video Game Preservation Webinar and Q&A

Jennie Rose Halperin

book expanding from phone

book expanding from phone

August 15, 2023

Our Statement on Hachette v. Internet Archive and Controlled Digital Lending of Materials

Jennie Rose Halperin

a woman leaning over to whisper into a plant with large leaves

a woman leaning over to whisper into a plant with large leaves

August 4, 2023

Four Questions with Michelle Reed

a tablet or phone releasing digital content into the background in a triangle

a tablet or phone releasing digital content into the background in a triangle

July 11, 2023

Launching the eBook Pledge to Make eBook Markets Sustainable for the Long Term

Jennie Rose Halperin

phone with books coming out of it

phone with books coming out of it

June 5, 2023

Library Futures Releases 2022 Annual Report

Jennie Rose Halperin

signs holding protest signs with ereaders on them

signs holding protest signs with ereaders on them

March 28, 2023

Toward a Cooperative Vision: Library Futures's Response to the Hachette v Internet Archive Summary Judgement

Jennie Rose Halperin

books flying into a mountain with a pink background

books flying into a mountain with a pink background

February 14, 2023

Library Futures Releases Policy Paper: Digital Ownership for Libraries and the Public

statue of liberty with purple background

statue of liberty with purple background

February 9, 2023

Library Futures Ebook Bills are on the Move

statue of liberty holding a torch in front of a purple background

statue of liberty holding a torch in front of a purple background

December 14, 2022

Library Futures Files Collaborative Amici in American Society for Testing and Materials, et al. v. Public.Resource.Org

raised hands clutching a variety of devices

raised hands clutching a variety of devices

September 30, 2022

Library Futures and SPARC Condemn Wiley E-Textbook Withdrawal

Jennie Rose Halperin

engelberg center on innovation law and policy at NYU

September 12, 2022

Library Futures joins the Engelberg Center

Jennie Rose Halperin

Improving Digital Access to Local News Through Library-Newsroom Collaboration Case Study July 2022 Prepared for Library Futures Written by Aria Joughin and Jennifer Brandel

Improving Digital Access to Local News Through Library-Newsroom Collaboration Case Study July 2022 Prepared for Library Futures Written by Aria Joughin and Jennifer Brandel

August 23, 2022

Improving Digital Access to Local News Through Library-Newsroom Collaboration

Jennie Rose Halperin

people sitting underneath a tree reading with books and bytes surrounding them

people sitting underneath a tree reading with books and bytes surrounding them

August 15, 2022

Five Lessons about Community Highlighted by Allied Media Conference 2022

tree with people sitting beneath it, code, and books

tree with people sitting beneath it, code, and books

July 18, 2022

Brief Filed in Hachette et al v Internet Archive

raised hands with devices and library cards against a blue background

raised hands with devices and library cards against a blue background

June 30, 2022

Library Futures Releases Policy Statement and Draft eBook Legislative Language: Mitigating the Library eBook Conundrum Through Legislative Action in the States

Kyle K. Courtney

person reaching into a series of televisions and pulling out a book

person reaching into a series of televisions and pulling out a book

May 3, 2022

Library Futures Joins Opposition Against the SMART Copyright Act

Two people approaching a library, one from a cabin in the mountains, the other from a city.

Two people approaching a library, one from a cabin in the mountains, the other from a city.

March 14, 2022

Four Questions with Emily Drabinski and Kelvin Watson

Two people looking at a stack of books in a bird cage just out of reach above their heads.

Two people looking at a stack of books in a bird cage just out of reach above their heads.

January 10, 2022

Four Questions with Dr. Jeanie Austin

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

December 9, 2021

Statement on the Association of American Publishers Suit Against the State of Maryland

Jennie Rose Halperin

Kyle K. Courtney

A bust lying on its side with paper cutouts in many colors coming into or out of its ear, some with text on them.

A bust lying on its side with paper cutouts in many colors coming into or out of its ear, some with text on them.

December 2, 2021

iFixIt and Library Futures Team up to Provide 100 Pro Tech Repair Kits to Public Libraries

A physical book next to an ebook on a computer screen

A physical book next to an ebook on a computer screen

November 10, 2021

Library Futures Files in Crucial Canadian Copyright Case

Kyle K. Courtney

A person holding a mobile phone. Blocks of color and text pour out from the phone toward the person holding it.

A person holding a mobile phone. Blocks of color and text pour out from the phone toward the person holding it.

November 8, 2021

Supporting Equitable Access to Local News

Jennie Rose Halperin

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

September 24, 2021

Library Victory! Wyden and Eshoo demand answers from big publishers

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

September 21, 2021

Protect Library Workers from the CASE Act

Jennie Rose Halperin

June 18, 2021

Four Questions with Michael Blackwell on Ebook Advocacy

Jennie Rose Halperin

Two people staring up at a stack of books in a birdcage that is just out of reach.

Two people staring up at a stack of books in a birdcage that is just out of reach.

May 19, 2021

Content at any cost?

Jennie Rose Halperin

Head shots of Darius Kazemi and Joanne McNeil on top of the multi-colored blocks on a white background cover of Lurking: How a Person Became a User. Text reads "Why Trust a Corporation to Do a Library's Job? A conversation with Lurking author Joanne McNeil and artist/technolgist Darius Kazemi // Wed, April 28 1-2:15 EDT" The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are in the lower right corner.

Head shots of Darius Kazemi and Joanne McNeil on top of the multi-colored blocks on a white background cover of Lurking: How a Person Became a User. Text reads "Why Trust a Corporation to Do a Library's Job? A conversation with Lurking author Joanne McNeil and artist/technolgist Darius Kazemi // Wed, April 28 1-2:15 EDT" The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are in the lower right corner.

April 27, 2021

Four Questions about the Promise of Libraries and the Internet with Author Joanne McNeil

Jennie Rose Halperin

Scott Jarzombek, a young white man in a suit, leans over a shelf of DVDs. The background is a pale blue with cutout shapes, some colored and some filled with text.

Scott Jarzombek, a young white man in a suit, leans over a shelf of DVDs. The background is a pale blue with cutout shapes, some colored and some filled with text.

April 8, 2021

Four Questions about Fine Free Libraries with Scott Jarzombek of the Albany Public Library

Jennie Rose Halperin

A person holding mobile phone. Colored blocks and blocks of text flow out of it over them in a beam of light.

A person holding mobile phone. Colored blocks and blocks of text flow out of it over them in a beam of light.

March 10, 2021

Supporting Broadband Access for All

Jill Hurst-Wahl

A bust lying on its side with blocks, some colored and some filled with text, flowing into--or out of--its ear.

A bust lying on its side with blocks, some colored and some filled with text, flowing into--or out of--its ear.

January 24, 2021

Ensuring a sustainable future for libraries: Announcing Library Futures

A print book next to an ebook on a computer screen.

A print book next to an ebook on a computer screen.

January 7, 2021

Welcome to Library Futures

Jennie Rose Halperin

Keeping an Open Mind / New Research on Open Educational Resources in Public Libraries / bookshelves filled with books rising from a tablet

Keeping an Open Mind / New Research on Open Educational Resources in Public Libraries / bookshelves filled with books rising from a tablet

November 22, 2024

New Research Report: OER in Public Libraries

two people looking up at books in a cage out of reach

two people looking up at books in a cage out of reach

March 27, 2024

Connecting the Commons

printing press from an 1830 typefounder’s catalogue

printing press from an 1830 typefounder’s catalogue

March 6, 2024

The Publisher Playbook: A Timeline

Milo Santamaria

scales of justice in front of a law book

scales of justice in front of a law book

December 6, 2023

Libraries, You Got Rights!

Milo Santamaria

12 different silksreen images of Prince by Andy Warhol

12 different silksreen images of Prince by Andy Warhol

September 12, 2023

From Art Museums to the Supreme Court: How Does the Decision in Warhol v. Goldsmith Go Beyond Art?

Bella Wetherington

person holding a smartphone with book pages and colored blocks swarming out of it

person holding a smartphone with book pages and colored blocks swarming out of it

September 6, 2023

Link Taxes Tax Library Values

GIS map of the Bronx showing which areas lack broadband

GIS map of the Bronx showing which areas lack broadband

August 28, 2023

Mapping the Bronx: Where Digital Redlining Denies Access and How Libraries Can Help

Wendyliz Martinez

Statue of Liberty wearing a mask

Statue of Liberty wearing a mask

August 23, 2023

Section 230: More than a “Big Tech” Issue

Bella Wetherington

hand removing the top of the capitol building while another hand puts a bill inside

hand removing the top of the capitol building while another hand puts a bill inside

August 9, 2023

The Kids Online Safety Act Denies Young People’s Freedoms of Expression and Privacy

Milo Santamaria

Hands of many skin colors closed into fists around library cards or mobile phones.

Hands of many skin colors closed into fists around library cards or mobile phones.

February 8, 2022

First Insights Report: Albany Public Library News Access Pilot Project

Jennie Rose Halperin

July 13, 2021

Let's Broadband Together: A New Collaboration with Consumer Reports

Jennie Rose Halperin

necromancers of the public domain / February 29 Caveat NYC / Broadway Racketeers (1928) / nyu.engleberg.org / Library Futures, Engleberg Center, and Theatre of the Apes logos / Broadway Racketeers book by John O'Connor

necromancers of the public domain / February 29 Caveat NYC / Broadway Racketeers (1928) / nyu.engleberg.org / Library Futures, Engleberg Center, and Theatre of the Apes logos / Broadway Racketeers book by John O'Connor

March 26, 2024

Necromancers of the Public Domain: Broadway Racketeers

HOW TO READ A CONTRACT! Scarlet Galvan Grand Valley State U Libraries/ONEAL; Katherine Macy IUPUI/ONEAL, Sandra Ayay Enimil Yale | Wednesday, March 13 1-2:15 ET

HOW TO READ A CONTRACT! Scarlet Galvan Grand Valley State U Libraries/ONEAL; Katherine Macy IUPUI/ONEAL, Sandra Ayay Enimil Yale | Wednesday, March 13 1-2:15 ET

March 20, 2024

How to Read a Contract!

a person from a cabin and one from a city meet at a library. Each holds an ebook on a tablet.

a person from a cabin and one from a city meet at a library. Each holds an ebook on a tablet.

July 20, 2022

Connecting with our Community: ALA Annual 2022

The Statue of Liberty with a mask on.

The Statue of Liberty with a mask on.

March 31, 2021

Big Tech and Access to Information Webinar Panel

Jennie Rose Halperin

A star exploding on a black background with the text "Mythbusting Controlled Digial Lending" on top. The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are at the bottom.

A star exploding on a black background with the text "Mythbusting Controlled Digial Lending" on top. The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are at the bottom.

February 12, 2021

Mythbusting Controlled Digital Lending: Watch the video, learn the facts!

Jennie Rose Halperin

small house in front of mountains with books exploding from it

small house in front of mountains with books exploding from it

October 15, 2024

Library Futures Announces Research Grant Recipients

peope reading books beneath a tree whose leaves are made from 1s and 0s

peope reading books beneath a tree whose leaves are made from 1s and 0s

October 10, 2024

Library Futures Welcomes First Advisory Board

September 27, 2024

Re:Create Welcomes Library Futures as its Newest Member

Library Futures

raised fists holding protests signs with libraries, books, and tablets

raised fists holding protests signs with libraries, books, and tablets

September 5, 2024

Hachette v. Internet Archive: We're Still Fighting for Fair Use

Jennie Rose Halperin

two people approaching a library, one from the mountains, one from a city

two people approaching a library, one from the mountains, one from a city

August 13, 2024

DPLA Introduces E-Books Libraries Can Own

cell phone with blocks of text streaming toward a person

cell phone with blocks of text streaming toward a person

August 12, 2024

Hoopla's Content Problem: Strange, Skewed Results Still Dominate Catalog

Jennie Rose Halperin

July 16, 2024

Introducing CATS from Library Futures!

MEET THE INTERNS with casual photos of eight young adults

MEET THE INTERNS with casual photos of eight young adults

July 10, 2024

Meet the 2024 Library Futures Interns!

people reading books and tablets beneath a tree with leaves made from 0s and 1s

people reading books and tablets beneath a tree with leaves made from 0s and 1s

July 8, 2024

A Response to Hachette v. Internet Archive from Michelle Wu

people approaching a library from the mountains and from a city

people approaching a library from the mountains and from a city

July 8, 2024

A Response to Hachette v. Internet Archive from Mehtab Khan

a shelf of books emerging from an ipad

a shelf of books emerging from an ipad

June 20, 2024

Stepping Down as Co-Chair of the National Information Standards Controlled Digital Lending Working Group

Jennie Rose Halperin

a print book next to an ebook on a computer

a print book next to an ebook on a computer

June 12, 2024

Introducing Principles on Library Ownership of Digital Books

Jennie Rose Halperin

house with books exploding from it

house with books exploding from it

May 23, 2024

Library Futures Awarded Lounsbery Foundation Grant

Jennie Rose Halperin

man holding a contract in front of a skeptical woman at a library desk/ Nice E-book contract ya got there. Be a shame if someone renegotiated it. / Contact your representatives about e-books!

man holding a contract in front of a skeptical woman at a library desk/ Nice E-book contract ya got there. Be a shame if someone renegotiated it. / Contact your representatives about e-books!

February 13, 2024

Introducing E-Books for Us!

jennie rose halperin in a green dress with curly hair poses with the supreme court brief

jennie rose halperin in a green dress with curly hair poses with the supreme court brief

January 22, 2024

Library Futures Files Amici in Two Key Cases

Jennie Rose Halperin

raised hands with devices

raised hands with devices

December 14, 2022

The Mellon Foundation grants $1 million to support libraries in the digital age

Jennie Rose Halperin

hand reaching for books through a pile of screens

hand reaching for books through a pile of screens

December 16, 2024

Libraries in a Material World: The Role of Repair, Energy, and Education in Library Sustainability

Keeping an Open Mind / New Research on Open Educational Resources in Public Libraries / bookshelves filled with books rising from a tablet

Keeping an Open Mind / New Research on Open Educational Resources in Public Libraries / bookshelves filled with books rising from a tablet

November 22, 2024

New Research Report: OER in Public Libraries

small house in front of mountains with books exploding from it

small house in front of mountains with books exploding from it

October 15, 2024

Library Futures Announces Research Grant Recipients

peope reading books beneath a tree whose leaves are made from 1s and 0s

peope reading books beneath a tree whose leaves are made from 1s and 0s

October 10, 2024

Library Futures Welcomes First Advisory Board

a print book becoming a book on a computer screen

a print book becoming a book on a computer screen

October 7, 2024

CDL's Future Depends on Us All: A Response to Scholarly Kitchen's "Lessons Learned from a Fair Use Defeat"

September 27, 2024

Re:Create Welcomes Library Futures as its Newest Member

Library Futures

illustration of four people on a Zoom screen. A person and a cat sit in front.

illustration of four people on a Zoom screen. A person and a cat sit in front.

September 10, 2024

The Past, Present, and Future of the Copyright Specialist

raised fists holding protests signs with libraries, books, and tablets

raised fists holding protests signs with libraries, books, and tablets

September 5, 2024

Hachette v. Internet Archive: We're Still Fighting for Fair Use

Jennie Rose Halperin

person reaching through a series of screens for a book

person reaching through a series of screens for a book

September 3, 2024

How Much Does Obama's Summer Reading List Cost Your Library?

Jennie Rose Halperin

two people approaching a library, one from the mountains, one from a city

two people approaching a library, one from the mountains, one from a city

August 13, 2024

DPLA Introduces E-Books Libraries Can Own

cell phone with blocks of text streaming toward a person

cell phone with blocks of text streaming toward a person

August 12, 2024

Hoopla's Content Problem: Strange, Skewed Results Still Dominate Catalog

Jennie Rose Halperin

July 16, 2024

Introducing CATS from Library Futures!

MEET THE INTERNS with casual photos of eight young adults

MEET THE INTERNS with casual photos of eight young adults

July 10, 2024

Meet the 2024 Library Futures Interns!

people reading books and tablets beneath a tree with leaves made from 0s and 1s

people reading books and tablets beneath a tree with leaves made from 0s and 1s

July 8, 2024

A Response to Hachette v. Internet Archive from Michelle Wu

people approaching a library from the mountains and from a city

people approaching a library from the mountains and from a city

July 8, 2024

A Response to Hachette v. Internet Archive from Mehtab Khan

a shelf of books emerging from an ipad

a shelf of books emerging from an ipad

June 20, 2024

Stepping Down as Co-Chair of the National Information Standards Controlled Digital Lending Working Group

Jennie Rose Halperin

one hand taking the dome of a Capitol building and another hand putting a bill inside

one hand taking the dome of a Capitol building and another hand putting a bill inside

June 17, 2024

Legislation Round-Up

fists holding protests signs with library cards, smart phones, and libraries on them

fists holding protests signs with library cards, smart phones, and libraries on them

June 17, 2024

Litigation Round-Up

a print book next to an ebook on a computer

a print book next to an ebook on a computer

June 12, 2024

Introducing Principles on Library Ownership of Digital Books

Jennie Rose Halperin

house with books exploding from it

house with books exploding from it

May 23, 2024

Library Futures Awarded Lounsbery Foundation Grant

Jennie Rose Halperin

statue of liberty with a mask

statue of liberty with a mask

March 29, 2024

Fighting for the Right to Internet: Amicus Brief in Sony v. Cox

two people looking up at books in a cage out of reach

two people looking up at books in a cage out of reach

March 27, 2024

Connecting the Commons

necromancers of the public domain / February 29 Caveat NYC / Broadway Racketeers (1928) / nyu.engleberg.org / Library Futures, Engleberg Center, and Theatre of the Apes logos / Broadway Racketeers book by John O'Connor

necromancers of the public domain / February 29 Caveat NYC / Broadway Racketeers (1928) / nyu.engleberg.org / Library Futures, Engleberg Center, and Theatre of the Apes logos / Broadway Racketeers book by John O'Connor

March 26, 2024

Necromancers of the Public Domain: Broadway Racketeers

protest signs with hands

protest signs with hands

March 21, 2024

Hachette v Internet Archive: The Case Marches On

Jennie Rose Halperin

HOW TO READ A CONTRACT! Scarlet Galvan Grand Valley State U Libraries/ONEAL; Katherine Macy IUPUI/ONEAL, Sandra Ayay Enimil Yale | Wednesday, March 13 1-2:15 ET

HOW TO READ A CONTRACT! Scarlet Galvan Grand Valley State U Libraries/ONEAL; Katherine Macy IUPUI/ONEAL, Sandra Ayay Enimil Yale | Wednesday, March 13 1-2:15 ET

March 20, 2024

How to Read a Contract!

March 14, 2024

Celebrating 10 Years of Copyright First Responders

printing press from an 1830 typefounder’s catalogue

printing press from an 1830 typefounder’s catalogue

March 6, 2024

The Publisher Playbook: A Timeline

Milo Santamaria

man holding a contract in front of a skeptical woman at a library desk/ Nice E-book contract ya got there. Be a shame if someone renegotiated it. / Contact your representatives about e-books!

man holding a contract in front of a skeptical woman at a library desk/ Nice E-book contract ya got there. Be a shame if someone renegotiated it. / Contact your representatives about e-books!

February 13, 2024

Introducing E-Books for Us!

hands holding phones

hands holding phones

February 8, 2024

Four Questions with ALA Presidential Candidates Sam Helmick and Ray Pun

January 30, 2024

Four Questions with Camille Thomas

jennie rose halperin in a green dress with curly hair poses with the supreme court brief

jennie rose halperin in a green dress with curly hair poses with the supreme court brief

January 22, 2024

Library Futures Files Amici in Two Key Cases

Jennie Rose Halperin

scales of justice in front of a law book

scales of justice in front of a law book

December 6, 2023

Libraries, You Got Rights!

Milo Santamaria

November 28, 2023

Unlocking OER for Public Libraries

Milo Santamaria

On September 26, 2023, Library Futures hosted Unacceptable Loss: Video Game Preservation in Libraries and Archives with Phil Salvador (Video Game History Foundation), Laine Nooney (NYU and Unboxing Pod,) and Meredith Rose (Public Knowledge) discuss Salvador's new report "Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States." Participants kindly agreed to answer a few more questions from the audience. Thinking about the SAA panel that featured archivists who presently work at gaming companies - do you see paths forward for collaboration with contemporary companies in creating a larger archival infrastructure and carving out a niche for video game archivists, the same way that we have museum archivists, corporate archivists, a/ archivists, etc.? Phil: This is something we’d love to see, but it would involve those ongoing conversations and trust-building we talked about during the panel. The game industry has typically worked from the viewpoint that internal materials are trade secrets, even going back decades, and I think building relationships with developers to show that their materials can be handled sensitively — especially working with smaller independent developers — is a great place to start. Did your survey investigate streamer playthroughs posted on YouTube as a means for historical research? Phil: We didn’t look into this in the study, but playthrough videos, livestreams, let’s plays, etc. are absolutely an alternative way to preserve and document video games, especially for (as we talked about) games that cannot be traditionally preserved as standalone objects. For the study, we focused on access to the original games since we were concerned about copyright policy around games as archival objects, but it would be interesting to study examples where playthroughs have been used as surrogates for research, especially for rare or difficult-to-play titles. Have any of the preservationist initiatives addressed 3rd Party "Knockoff" consoles? (Not just the multiple-games-built-in ones or 3rd Party hardware that flooded the market when licensing for OG hardware expired in the mid 2000s... thinking more along the lines of the Nintendo Famicom knockoff console I had as a kid called the "Good Boy" for example!). Phil: This is one of the many areas where the gaming community is doing a great job documenting it. The fan-run Bootleg Games Wiki and Unauthorizon are doing excellent work; I think it makes sense for institutions to support these types of efforts rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Could you tell us a bit more about playing retro games on the Internet Archive? I hear they have been working with the MAME developers. Phil: The Internet Archive has been doing some pioneering work in building in-browser emulation tech, often collaborating with (as you mentioned!) with emulator developers to port their applications to Javascript. Jason Scott actually wrote about this program just last week: https://blog.archive.org/2023/09/20/a-quarter-in-a-quarter-million-out-10-years-of-emulation-at-internet-archive/ The Internet Archive makes a fair use argument for their game collections, which is different from the DMCA exemptions we’re pushing for. So while what they’re doing doesn’t directly affect the copyright situation for other libraries and archives, I could imagine libraries continuing to build on the emulation tech they’ve developed as we explore remote access for games. I am an archivist. My assumption for people researching products created by businesses, for example wine or video games. From my perspective, the records that document the creation, drafts, decisions made during the creation process are also critically important. What is the perspective of the Game Libraries on also collecting the records? It makes me sad to see the separation of records from products, especially if the intention is research. Phil: We talked about this during the panel, but generally we see one of three things: either the materials are quickly discarded because they’re not considered important; they’re kept under private control by larger companies because they’re believed to be sensitive; or they’re difficult or impossible to collect, like Slack communications. Game history institutions do try to collect these materials, though they often come from individuals who kept their own documentation rather than from companies. This is an ongoing culture-shift conversation we’re all having with the game industry. Do particular fan projects of "remaking" or "remastering" older games fall under the preservation discourse as well? (i.e., the ill-fated Chrono Trigger 3d remake from the early 2000s that ended due to a cease-and-desist from Square Enix, while Chrono Trigger hasn't been subject to any official treatment in "remake" capacities since the Nintendo DS version I think?) Phil: I have some personal experience with this, having been a hobbyist fangame developer when I was younger! I think these are works worth preserving for the same reason that, say, mixtapes or underground comics are worth preserving, but because of the legally murky nature of fanworks like that, for the sake of simplicity, we’re not really focusing on them with this current copyright push. But I know that institutions do collect games like these! How do you think the recent Hachette v. IA case (and its ruling) will influence game preservation and possible future legal cases? I am thinking here about all the game emulations available on Internet Archive or just general library access. I know at MPOW we used to digitize films and tv that are not available streaming for class reserves but following the case, we are only putting the DVDs on hold and most students do not have DVD players. Brandon: The Hachette ruling (which is a district court opinion currently on appeal, so things could well change) can be distinguished from the kinds of uses most preservation folks make in a variety of ways, including (perhaps most importantly) that the books that were at issue in that case are commercially available right now. The court’s primary concern in Hachette was the alleged unfair competition between the IA’s copies and the ones sold by publishers. In cases where the vendor is unwilling or (as often) unable to offer a work for sale commercially, the fair use calculus should be different. The IA’s argument has been, “If we own a physical copy, we should be able to digitize it, take it off the shelf, and lend a digital copy instead, period.” If that argument fails, there are many others available that can still justify preservation and access to a wide variety of cultural materials. The Apple v. Correllium case is worth reading, because it shows how research access to software can be a transformative fair use, even when the software is still commercially available. Are there any legislative efforts currently to mandate Library of Congress archival copies? Phil: I know that the Library of Congress does collect some video games when they’re submitted to them, including source code, but there’s no mandatory deposit for video games. I’m not sure beyond that, but I know getting game donations can be especially tricky since most games are no longer issued in physical form, and the digital file formats/standards can vary dramatically. What are your thoughts on fan re-implementations of games, such as OpenRCT2 for RollerCoaster Tycoon 2? Phil: See the question below about the porting/modding community! Laine, in general, have you run into any requests for newer games that also suffer from preservation issues? I'm thinking of net flash games specifically which I've done some research on. I don’t typically work on materials from the early 2000s-2010s, but it’s definitely and impending problem for those who do. The entire early culture of Facebook games, for instance, Flash games like you mentioned, and of course even lots of early mobile. The proliferation of games on internet platforms means there’s entire swathes of game history that are likely gone. It will take alot of footwork from the next gen of historians, archivists, collectors, and technologists to track down executables, build emulators, and collect documents. Rather than taking on the copyright or IP issues, would it make sense to argue that, if a platform is past end of support (Win3/NT, MacOS 8, PS2, etc.) then the software published for those platforms is "at risk" and should be preserved? Brandon: Unfortunately, you can’t ignore the copyright issues. Fortunately, fair use permits all the major steps in a preservation workflow. (See the SPN Fair Use Best Practices for more information.) Unfortunately, broad access isn’t necessarily a step in a preservation workflow. So it’s easy enough to say that material that is at risk should be preserved. It gets harder to say, “...and made accessible under XYZ circumstances to ABC people.” It’s not impossible, at all, but it’s where things get more interesting. Archiving video game music? YouTube videos featuring music pieces get taken down very often. Phil: Apart from official soundtrack albums, I think this is one of those areas that’s always going to remain in the community’s hands (in terms of, say, being able to access game music en masse on YouTube). I love pointing to VGMPF as an example of what the community is doing. It’s not something VGHF is focusing on, though we doe collect original materials from composers, audio designers, etc., which falls more into traditional archival collections. Is the Center also working to advocate for unpublished content, such like are prevalent in Archives? Phil: We do get unreleased and unfinished video games, which are usually called “prototypes” by the game community. In fact, our founder Frank Cifaldi got his start in game preservation by recovering game prototypes! These are absolutely important materials, especially when we can analyze and dissect earlier versions of games or titles that never made it to shelves. For a great example of the community’s efforts around this, check out Hidden Palace, a website dedicated to sharing and documenting what I would describe as unpublished draft versions of video games. How has the porting/modding community helped or harmed access? Are they willing to work with archivists? Phil: There are so many examples where fan-made ports, modifications, and re-implementations have made games more accessible. In fact, most of the widely available game emulators, including the ones used by the Internet Archive, were developed by the community. I can say that at least at VGHF, we work closely with these communities to help us work with unusual game materials, because these are THE experts on these topics! If we’re working with (for a real-life example) a prototype Nintendo 64 game, we know the people in the Nintendo 64 hacking community who we can contact for support. To deviate from this question a little bit, what’s also been really interesting is how these fan-run efforts interact with the commercial marketplace. Oftentimes, fan modifications and re-implementations end up in a gray area that I think publishers are reluctant to encourage (for instance, a modification that allows a game to run on a modern computer by removing its copy protection). The good news is that we’re seeing more game publishers tapping into these sorts of community resources in approved, official ways. A great example of Nightdive Studios, a company that specializes in game reissues; they hired a community member known for developing game re-implementations and now have him handling the official re-releases of those same games. We’re hopeful that publishers will continue to embrace or at least tolerate those types of efforts. My question is specifically about the methodology you guys used to calculate that 87% number...in the report you mention the use of Moby of course and the limitation of the report in that it only focuses on the United States. Do you guys have any plans for doing work in an international context? If you do, can you make a wildly irresponsible guess as to what that number might look like in that context? :D Phil: MobyGames does include international games! But since (as Brandon mentioned) we did this study for the sake of moving the needle on US copyright law, we purposely focused on titles with US-specific releases. If we broadened our scope internationally, I think the numbers would be lower. Certain ecosystems would shift (for instance, British computer games from the 1980s tend to be more available than American computer games from the 1980s, since that’s the source of a lot of British gaming nostalgia), but we’d also start including games that have an inherently international, non-region-based release, such as web browser games or mobile games. These tend to be VERY volatile, especially mobile games. With an expanded scope, I think we'd want to keep focusing on specific ecosystems too, because that could show us where the region-specific availability gaps are that libraries could be focusing around.

On September 26, 2023, Library Futures hosted Unacceptable Loss: Video Game Preservation in Libraries and Archives with Phil Salvador (Video Game History Foundation), Laine Nooney (NYU and Unboxing Pod,) and Meredith Rose (Public Knowledge) discuss Salvador's new report "Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States." Participants kindly agreed to answer a few more questions from the audience. Thinking about the SAA panel that featured archivists who presently work at gaming companies - do you see paths forward for collaboration with contemporary companies in creating a larger archival infrastructure and carving out a niche for video game archivists, the same way that we have museum archivists, corporate archivists, a/ archivists, etc.? Phil: This is something we’d love to see, but it would involve those ongoing conversations and trust-building we talked about during the panel. The game industry has typically worked from the viewpoint that internal materials are trade secrets, even going back decades, and I think building relationships with developers to show that their materials can be handled sensitively — especially working with smaller independent developers — is a great place to start. Did your survey investigate streamer playthroughs posted on YouTube as a means for historical research? Phil: We didn’t look into this in the study, but playthrough videos, livestreams, let’s plays, etc. are absolutely an alternative way to preserve and document video games, especially for (as we talked about) games that cannot be traditionally preserved as standalone objects. For the study, we focused on access to the original games since we were concerned about copyright policy around games as archival objects, but it would be interesting to study examples where playthroughs have been used as surrogates for research, especially for rare or difficult-to-play titles. Have any of the preservationist initiatives addressed 3rd Party "Knockoff" consoles? (Not just the multiple-games-built-in ones or 3rd Party hardware that flooded the market when licensing for OG hardware expired in the mid 2000s... thinking more along the lines of the Nintendo Famicom knockoff console I had as a kid called the "Good Boy" for example!). Phil: This is one of the many areas where the gaming community is doing a great job documenting it. The fan-run Bootleg Games Wiki and Unauthorizon are doing excellent work; I think it makes sense for institutions to support these types of efforts rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Could you tell us a bit more about playing retro games on the Internet Archive? I hear they have been working with the MAME developers. Phil: The Internet Archive has been doing some pioneering work in building in-browser emulation tech, often collaborating with (as you mentioned!) with emulator developers to port their applications to Javascript. Jason Scott actually wrote about this program just last week: https://blog.archive.org/2023/09/20/a-quarter-in-a-quarter-million-out-10-years-of-emulation-at-internet-archive/ The Internet Archive makes a fair use argument for their game collections, which is different from the DMCA exemptions we’re pushing for. So while what they’re doing doesn’t directly affect the copyright situation for other libraries and archives, I could imagine libraries continuing to build on the emulation tech they’ve developed as we explore remote access for games. I am an archivist. My assumption for people researching products created by businesses, for example wine or video games. From my perspective, the records that document the creation, drafts, decisions made during the creation process are also critically important. What is the perspective of the Game Libraries on also collecting the records? It makes me sad to see the separation of records from products, especially if the intention is research. Phil: We talked about this during the panel, but generally we see one of three things: either the materials are quickly discarded because they’re not considered important; they’re kept under private control by larger companies because they’re believed to be sensitive; or they’re difficult or impossible to collect, like Slack communications. Game history institutions do try to collect these materials, though they often come from individuals who kept their own documentation rather than from companies. This is an ongoing culture-shift conversation we’re all having with the game industry. Do particular fan projects of "remaking" or "remastering" older games fall under the preservation discourse as well? (i.e., the ill-fated Chrono Trigger 3d remake from the early 2000s that ended due to a cease-and-desist from Square Enix, while Chrono Trigger hasn't been subject to any official treatment in "remake" capacities since the Nintendo DS version I think?) Phil: I have some personal experience with this, having been a hobbyist fangame developer when I was younger! I think these are works worth preserving for the same reason that, say, mixtapes or underground comics are worth preserving, but because of the legally murky nature of fanworks like that, for the sake of simplicity, we’re not really focusing on them with this current copyright push. But I know that institutions do collect games like these! How do you think the recent Hachette v. IA case (and its ruling) will influence game preservation and possible future legal cases? I am thinking here about all the game emulations available on Internet Archive or just general library access. I know at MPOW we used to digitize films and tv that are not available streaming for class reserves but following the case, we are only putting the DVDs on hold and most students do not have DVD players. Brandon: The Hachette ruling (which is a district court opinion currently on appeal, so things could well change) can be distinguished from the kinds of uses most preservation folks make in a variety of ways, including (perhaps most importantly) that the books that were at issue in that case are commercially available right now. The court’s primary concern in Hachette was the alleged unfair competition between the IA’s copies and the ones sold by publishers. In cases where the vendor is unwilling or (as often) unable to offer a work for sale commercially, the fair use calculus should be different. The IA’s argument has been, “If we own a physical copy, we should be able to digitize it, take it off the shelf, and lend a digital copy instead, period.” If that argument fails, there are many others available that can still justify preservation and access to a wide variety of cultural materials. The Apple v. Correllium case is worth reading, because it shows how research access to software can be a transformative fair use, even when the software is still commercially available. Are there any legislative efforts currently to mandate Library of Congress archival copies? Phil: I know that the Library of Congress does collect some video games when they’re submitted to them, including source code, but there’s no mandatory deposit for video games. I’m not sure beyond that, but I know getting game donations can be especially tricky since most games are no longer issued in physical form, and the digital file formats/standards can vary dramatically. What are your thoughts on fan re-implementations of games, such as OpenRCT2 for RollerCoaster Tycoon 2? Phil: See the question below about the porting/modding community! Laine, in general, have you run into any requests for newer games that also suffer from preservation issues? I'm thinking of net flash games specifically which I've done some research on. I don’t typically work on materials from the early 2000s-2010s, but it’s definitely and impending problem for those who do. The entire early culture of Facebook games, for instance, Flash games like you mentioned, and of course even lots of early mobile. The proliferation of games on internet platforms means there’s entire swathes of game history that are likely gone. It will take alot of footwork from the next gen of historians, archivists, collectors, and technologists to track down executables, build emulators, and collect documents. Rather than taking on the copyright or IP issues, would it make sense to argue that, if a platform is past end of support (Win3/NT, MacOS 8, PS2, etc.) then the software published for those platforms is "at risk" and should be preserved? Brandon: Unfortunately, you can’t ignore the copyright issues. Fortunately, fair use permits all the major steps in a preservation workflow. (See the SPN Fair Use Best Practices for more information.) Unfortunately, broad access isn’t necessarily a step in a preservation workflow. So it’s easy enough to say that material that is at risk should be preserved. It gets harder to say, “...and made accessible under XYZ circumstances to ABC people.” It’s not impossible, at all, but it’s where things get more interesting. Archiving video game music? YouTube videos featuring music pieces get taken down very often. Phil: Apart from official soundtrack albums, I think this is one of those areas that’s always going to remain in the community’s hands (in terms of, say, being able to access game music en masse on YouTube). I love pointing to VGMPF as an example of what the community is doing. It’s not something VGHF is focusing on, though we doe collect original materials from composers, audio designers, etc., which falls more into traditional archival collections. Is the Center also working to advocate for unpublished content, such like are prevalent in Archives? Phil: We do get unreleased and unfinished video games, which are usually called “prototypes” by the game community. In fact, our founder Frank Cifaldi got his start in game preservation by recovering game prototypes! These are absolutely important materials, especially when we can analyze and dissect earlier versions of games or titles that never made it to shelves. For a great example of the community’s efforts around this, check out Hidden Palace, a website dedicated to sharing and documenting what I would describe as unpublished draft versions of video games. How has the porting/modding community helped or harmed access? Are they willing to work with archivists? Phil: There are so many examples where fan-made ports, modifications, and re-implementations have made games more accessible. In fact, most of the widely available game emulators, including the ones used by the Internet Archive, were developed by the community. I can say that at least at VGHF, we work closely with these communities to help us work with unusual game materials, because these are THE experts on these topics! If we’re working with (for a real-life example) a prototype Nintendo 64 game, we know the people in the Nintendo 64 hacking community who we can contact for support. To deviate from this question a little bit, what’s also been really interesting is how these fan-run efforts interact with the commercial marketplace. Oftentimes, fan modifications and re-implementations end up in a gray area that I think publishers are reluctant to encourage (for instance, a modification that allows a game to run on a modern computer by removing its copy protection). The good news is that we’re seeing more game publishers tapping into these sorts of community resources in approved, official ways. A great example of Nightdive Studios, a company that specializes in game reissues; they hired a community member known for developing game re-implementations and now have him handling the official re-releases of those same games. We’re hopeful that publishers will continue to embrace or at least tolerate those types of efforts. My question is specifically about the methodology you guys used to calculate that 87% number...in the report you mention the use of Moby of course and the limitation of the report in that it only focuses on the United States. Do you guys have any plans for doing work in an international context? If you do, can you make a wildly irresponsible guess as to what that number might look like in that context? :D Phil: MobyGames does include international games! But since (as Brandon mentioned) we did this study for the sake of moving the needle on US copyright law, we purposely focused on titles with US-specific releases. If we broadened our scope internationally, I think the numbers would be lower. Certain ecosystems would shift (for instance, British computer games from the 1980s tend to be more available than American computer games from the 1980s, since that’s the source of a lot of British gaming nostalgia), but we’d also start including games that have an inherently international, non-region-based release, such as web browser games or mobile games. These tend to be VERY volatile, especially mobile games. With an expanded scope, I think we'd want to keep focusing on specific ecosystems too, because that could show us where the region-specific availability gaps are that libraries could be focusing around.

October 4, 2023

Unacceptable Loss: Video Game Preservation Webinar and Q&A

Jennie Rose Halperin

12 different silksreen images of Prince by Andy Warhol

12 different silksreen images of Prince by Andy Warhol

September 12, 2023

From Art Museums to the Supreme Court: How Does the Decision in Warhol v. Goldsmith Go Beyond Art?

Bella Wetherington

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person holding a smartphone with book pages and colored blocks swarming out of it

September 6, 2023

Link Taxes Tax Library Values

GIS map of the Bronx showing which areas lack broadband

GIS map of the Bronx showing which areas lack broadband

August 28, 2023

Mapping the Bronx: Where Digital Redlining Denies Access and How Libraries Can Help

Wendyliz Martinez

Statue of Liberty wearing a mask

Statue of Liberty wearing a mask

August 23, 2023

Section 230: More than a “Big Tech” Issue

Bella Wetherington

book expanding from phone

book expanding from phone

August 15, 2023

Our Statement on Hachette v. Internet Archive and Controlled Digital Lending of Materials

Jennie Rose Halperin

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hand removing the top of the capitol building while another hand puts a bill inside

August 9, 2023

The Kids Online Safety Act Denies Young People’s Freedoms of Expression and Privacy

Milo Santamaria

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a woman leaning over to whisper into a plant with large leaves

August 4, 2023

Four Questions with Michelle Reed

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a tablet or phone releasing digital content into the background in a triangle

July 11, 2023

Launching the eBook Pledge to Make eBook Markets Sustainable for the Long Term

Jennie Rose Halperin

phone with books coming out of it

phone with books coming out of it

June 5, 2023

Library Futures Releases 2022 Annual Report

Jennie Rose Halperin

books coming out of a digital device

books coming out of a digital device

April 20, 2023

Introducing Learning Circles

Jennie Rose Halperin

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signs holding protest signs with ereaders on them

March 28, 2023

Toward a Cooperative Vision: Library Futures's Response to the Hachette v Internet Archive Summary Judgement

Jennie Rose Halperin

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books flying into a mountain with a pink background

February 14, 2023

Library Futures Releases Policy Paper: Digital Ownership for Libraries and the Public

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statue of liberty with purple background

February 9, 2023

Library Futures Ebook Bills are on the Move

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raised hands with devices

December 14, 2022

The Mellon Foundation grants $1 million to support libraries in the digital age

Jennie Rose Halperin

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statue of liberty holding a torch in front of a purple background

December 14, 2022

Library Futures Files Collaborative Amici in American Society for Testing and Materials, et al. v. Public.Resource.Org

raised hands clutching a variety of devices

raised hands clutching a variety of devices

September 30, 2022

Library Futures and SPARC Condemn Wiley E-Textbook Withdrawal

Jennie Rose Halperin

engelberg center on innovation law and policy at NYU

September 12, 2022

Library Futures joins the Engelberg Center

Jennie Rose Halperin

Improving Digital Access to Local News Through Library-Newsroom Collaboration Case Study July 2022 Prepared for Library Futures Written by Aria Joughin and Jennifer Brandel

Improving Digital Access to Local News Through Library-Newsroom Collaboration Case Study July 2022 Prepared for Library Futures Written by Aria Joughin and Jennifer Brandel

August 23, 2022

Improving Digital Access to Local News Through Library-Newsroom Collaboration

Jennie Rose Halperin

people sitting underneath a tree reading with books and bytes surrounding them

people sitting underneath a tree reading with books and bytes surrounding them

August 15, 2022

Five Lessons about Community Highlighted by Allied Media Conference 2022

a person from a cabin and one from a city meet at a library. Each holds an ebook on a tablet.

a person from a cabin and one from a city meet at a library. Each holds an ebook on a tablet.

July 20, 2022

Connecting with our Community: ALA Annual 2022

tree with people sitting beneath it, code, and books

tree with people sitting beneath it, code, and books

July 18, 2022

Brief Filed in Hachette et al v Internet Archive

raised hands with devices and library cards against a blue background

raised hands with devices and library cards against a blue background

June 30, 2022

Library Futures Releases Policy Statement and Draft eBook Legislative Language: Mitigating the Library eBook Conundrum Through Legislative Action in the States

Kyle K. Courtney

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a collage of two white women, one darked-haired standing outside on a campus; the other blonde with glasses standinng in front of a window with a cityscape in the background

May 12, 2022

Meet Our New Fellows! Policy Fellow Juliya Ziskina and Community Fellow Emily Finch

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person reaching into a series of televisions and pulling out a book

May 3, 2022

Library Futures Joins Opposition Against the SMART Copyright Act

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Two people approaching a library, one from a cabin in the mountains, the other from a city.

March 14, 2022

Four Questions with Emily Drabinski and Kelvin Watson

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Hands of many skin colors closed into fists around library cards or mobile phones.

February 8, 2022

First Insights Report: Albany Public Library News Access Pilot Project

Jennie Rose Halperin

Two people looking at a stack of books in a bird cage just out of reach above their heads.

Two people looking at a stack of books in a bird cage just out of reach above their heads.

January 10, 2022

Four Questions with Dr. Jeanie Austin

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

December 9, 2021

Statement on the Association of American Publishers Suit Against the State of Maryland

Jennie Rose Halperin

Kyle K. Courtney

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A bust lying on its side with paper cutouts in many colors coming into or out of its ear, some with text on them.

December 2, 2021

iFixIt and Library Futures Team up to Provide 100 Pro Tech Repair Kits to Public Libraries

Two people looking up at a stack of books in a birdcage just above their heads and out of reach.

Two people looking up at a stack of books in a birdcage just above their heads and out of reach.

December 1, 2021

Let's talk Systemic Market Failures: What the Penguin Random House/Simon & Schuster Merger Means for Libraries

Jennie Rose Halperin

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A physical book next to an ebook on a computer screen

November 10, 2021

Library Futures Files in Crucial Canadian Copyright Case

Kyle K. Courtney

A person holding a mobile phone. Blocks of color and text pour out from the phone toward the person holding it.

A person holding a mobile phone. Blocks of color and text pour out from the phone toward the person holding it.

November 8, 2021

Supporting Equitable Access to Local News

Jennie Rose Halperin

Two people looking at a stack of books in a cage that hangs just out of reach.

Two people looking at a stack of books in a cage that hangs just out of reach.

October 4, 2021

Eight Ways to Ban a Book

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

September 24, 2021

Library Victory! Wyden and Eshoo demand answers from big publishers

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

The Statue of Liberty wearing a mask.

September 21, 2021

Protect Library Workers from the CASE Act

Jennie Rose Halperin

A pring book next to an ebook on a computer screen.

A pring book next to an ebook on a computer screen.

August 25, 2021

Controlled Digital Lending: Unlocking the Library's Full Potential

Kyle K. Courtney

July 13, 2021

Let's Broadband Together: A New Collaboration with Consumer Reports

Jennie Rose Halperin

June 18, 2021

Four Questions with Michael Blackwell on Ebook Advocacy

Jennie Rose Halperin

Two people staring up at a stack of books in a birdcage that is just out of reach.

Two people staring up at a stack of books in a birdcage that is just out of reach.

May 19, 2021

Content at any cost?

Jennie Rose Halperin

Head shots of Darius Kazemi and Joanne McNeil on top of the multi-colored blocks on a white background cover of Lurking: How a Person Became a User. Text reads "Why Trust a Corporation to Do a Library's Job? A conversation with Lurking author Joanne McNeil and artist/technolgist Darius Kazemi // Wed, April 28 1-2:15 EDT" The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are in the lower right corner.

Head shots of Darius Kazemi and Joanne McNeil on top of the multi-colored blocks on a white background cover of Lurking: How a Person Became a User. Text reads "Why Trust a Corporation to Do a Library's Job? A conversation with Lurking author Joanne McNeil and artist/technolgist Darius Kazemi // Wed, April 28 1-2:15 EDT" The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are in the lower right corner.

April 27, 2021

Four Questions about the Promise of Libraries and the Internet with Author Joanne McNeil

Jennie Rose Halperin

A kid standing in front of a chalkboard holding a PDF.

A kid standing in front of a chalkboard holding a PDF.

April 20, 2021

Publishers Are Using E-Books to Extort Schools and Libraries

A table filled with rows and rows of Oscars

A table filled with rows and rows of Oscars

April 13, 2021

Who can watch this year’s Academy Award nominees?

Jennie Rose Halperin

Scott Jarzombek, a young white man in a suit, leans over a shelf of DVDs. The background is a pale blue with cutout shapes, some colored and some filled with text.

Scott Jarzombek, a young white man in a suit, leans over a shelf of DVDs. The background is a pale blue with cutout shapes, some colored and some filled with text.

April 8, 2021

Four Questions about Fine Free Libraries with Scott Jarzombek of the Albany Public Library

Jennie Rose Halperin

The Statue of Liberty with a mask on.

The Statue of Liberty with a mask on.

March 31, 2021

Big Tech and Access to Information Webinar Panel

Jennie Rose Halperin

A bust on its side with colored shapes and blocks of text flowing out of it--or into it.

A bust on its side with colored shapes and blocks of text flowing out of it--or into it.

March 17, 2021

Equitable Access is the Future for All of Us

A person holding mobile phone. Colored blocks and blocks of text flow out of it over them in a beam of light.

A person holding mobile phone. Colored blocks and blocks of text flow out of it over them in a beam of light.

March 10, 2021

Supporting Broadband Access for All

Jill Hurst-Wahl

A star exploding on a black background with the text "Mythbusting Controlled Digial Lending" on top. The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are at the bottom.

A star exploding on a black background with the text "Mythbusting Controlled Digial Lending" on top. The logos of the Internet Archive and Library Futures are at the bottom.

February 12, 2021

Mythbusting Controlled Digital Lending: Watch the video, learn the facts!

Jennie Rose Halperin

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A bust lying on its side with blocks, some colored and some filled with text, flowing into--or out of--its ear.

January 24, 2021

Ensuring a sustainable future for libraries: Announcing Library Futures

A print book next to an ebook on a computer screen.

A print book next to an ebook on a computer screen.

January 7, 2021

Welcome to Library Futures

Jennie Rose Halperin