The Legal Due Diligence subgroup of the Digital Library Federation’s Born-Digital Access Working Group is excited to share the first few blogs in a series comprising a set of guidelines addressing eleven complex legal and ethical issues involved in providing access to born-digital archival records.

The series will introduce readers of all skill levels to strategies for maximizing access while reducing harm to individuals, communities, and institutions. The risk of causing harm via access to unprocessed or unappraised born-digital collections is significant, and we hope this work helps to educate and advocate for thoughtful appraisal prior to providing access. In the series, we will summarize 11 common reasons archivists restrict access to content and suggest how to manage these restrictions, particularly for born-digital series or collections. 

Check out the posts so far and stay tuned for more!

Introducing: Legal and Ethical Considerations for Born-Digital Access

https://www.diglib.org/introducing-legal-and-ethical-considerations-for-born-digital-access/ 

An overview of the project.

Legal and Ethical Considerations for Providing Access to Born-Digital Collections: Getting Started

https://www.diglib.org/legal-and-ethical-considerations-for-providing-access-to-born-digital-collections-getting-started/ 

Tips and tricks that apply to all types of collections and restrictions. While each restriction case you encounter may be slightly different, there are several upstream activities to keep in mind.

Legal and Ethical Considerations for Providing Access to Born-Digital Collections: Attorney-Client Privilege

https://www.diglib.org/legal-and-ethical-considerations-for-providing-access-to-born-digital-collections-attorney-client-privilege/ 

A primer on managing content subject to attorney-client privilege in born-digital archives.

The full text of “Legal and Ethical Considerations for Providing Access to Born-Digital Collections” can be accessed here: https://osf.io/ketr7/. The primary authors of this community-developed resource are Jessika Drmacich, Kate Dundon, Jess Farrell, Christina Velazquez Fidler, Camille Tyndall Watson, and Hannah Wang.

Thanks for reading!

On behalf of the LDD subgroup of DLF BDAWG,

Jess