Policy: Greenlight from National Archive UK for posting wills/images / copyright

Question

Today, I received an email reply from the UK National Archives, http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/, using images from their library on WikiTree.  

Their answer is simple and clear.  YES, you can. However, there are a few caveats and some details that need to be addressed.

This is my original email to them.

I was wanting to clarify a few things. Since I am using wikitree for genealogy stuff I was hoping I could attach wills that I find on the national archives with profiles. I did find references to a reduced dpi, say 72 dpi. Would this be ok to use in this case?

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Ed Street

Their reply.

Dear Ed

 

Thank you for your email, which has been passed to me for reply.

 

Our instruction for the upload of images from The National Archives is:

Images of documents from The National Archives must be protected from unauthorized download at high resolution by a third party. You can do this by watermarking them ('The National Archives'), or by keeping the resolution to a level whereby the documents are legible for information and research, but are not of sufficient quality for commercial publication (usually 72dpi for the web).

 

I hope this is useful for you.

 

 

Paul Johnson

The National Archives Image Library Manager

Kew, Surrey, TW9 4DU, UK

 With the above listing, it is OK to post wills, etc to the profiles however the reduced DPI should be done.  Also, note to please the comment about keeping the resolution to a level whereby the documents are legible for information and research - this means that 72 is not a hard and fast number to use as some may need higher to read the details.  However, a good annotation link to the national archives SHOULD be included so that whomever wants can go there and order the record and read the full version themselves.

This brings up a second point that I was thinking about.  on images we currently see the size but not the DPI

, Original digital image: 240 x 426 pixels. 

So perhaps that needs to be changed or added to show the DPI?  

Next up is the identification of full size vs resized images.  If I were to upload a will how could it be displayed as being on the "ok I have approval" list? 

Comments

Normal screen resolution is about 67-130 DPI so basically, if you can see the whole document on the screen without scrolling at full magnification, it's probably the right resolution.  If there's a detail you need to show that is hard to make out, just crop out that section and display that separately.  A couple examples of what I mean are here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ward-21222

Answer 1

Thanks, Ed. This is good news. The complication is that, as far as I am aware, the National Archives do not indicate the resolution of images of wills which users of their site can download. Anyone wanting to take advantage of this will therefore need to have the know-how either to add a watermark or to check, and if necessary reduce, the image resolution.

A number of other sites allow low resolution images to be used on WT, with appropriate accreditation, but either limit downloads to low resolution images or enable users of their site to select low resolution for downloads. That makes things much simpler.

Comments

What could be of very useful in these cases is automatic resizing to 72 dpi when you select “source”.

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The wills I have downloaded from them are all 96dpi (they didn't tell me; that's what my computer says).

For transcripts I have done myself (not images), I always put this disclaimer:
Transcribed by [[Haywood-41|Ros Haywood]] from a copy held by the National Archives (UK); used under the terms of the Open Government Licence ''[You are free to transcribe, translate, index and quote from published or unpublished Crown copyright material among the records as extensively as you wish and you may publish the results in any format and any medium: in accordance with the terms of the Open Government Licence.]''

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I am referring to images and not transcripts or translations.

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I know you are.  I just thought I would put that disclaimer in in case anybody wanted to use it for transcripts.  If you read the sentence above it, you will see that I talk about dpi.

Answer 2

Hi Ed, copyright and licensing is a complex topic. It's not clear to me that you have permission to use this image on WikiTree (either in its original form or a reduced resolution copy).

The National Archives' terms of use vary depending on how you obtained the image:

• images downloaded from their website using Discovery -- permission is needed to use the images other than for private study, research for non-commercial purposes, or education purposes. See Digital Copies of Documents.

• high quality reproductions purchased from their Image Library -- a reproduction fee must be paid to use the images. See Image Reproduction.

You would need to ask the National Archives about the current reproduction fee. You will see from this G2G post that in 2017 it was a one-off fee of £40. This allowed the use of images on the basis that:

"The images must be protected from unauthorized download at high resolution by a third party. You can do this by watermarking, or by keeping the resolution to a level whereby the documents are legible for information and research, but are not of sufficient quality for commercial publication."

This appears to be what is described in the National Archives' email to you -- and that a reproduction fee may be payable to use the images on WikiTree.

Comments

The email I posted was directly FROM the national archives. I can assure you 100% if the fee’s were remotely involved that he would have mentioned it. Their only concern is what was mentioned in the email.  Also they hold the copyright and approval was granted for use.

Also they have been waving the fee’s which is in itself by all rights a completely different topic  if it was related to this it would have been stated in the reply. Also that post is from 2017 and grossly outdated and this is the updated info.

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Hi Ed, I have re-read their email several times. It does not say you have been granted approval to use a particular image or class of images on WikiTree. Instead, it describes technical specifications and appears to be written on the assumption that you will comply with their terms of use and obtain any necessary permissions.

This is what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Read WikiTree's guidance about uploading images. See "How do you know if you have permission to upload a photo?" in Help:Photos FAQ.

Step 2: Identify where you downloaded the image and what terms of use apply.

I'm not sure how you obtained the image(s). When I get wills from the National Archives, I download them from Discovery. (They are currently available for download for free.)

Before we can download a will on Discovery, we must tick the box that says: "I accept the terms and conditions",

The terms and conditions include:

"The use of copies of records downloaded from our website using Discovery is subject to the following conditions. Digital copies of documents may only be used for:

• private study or research for a non-commercial purpose
• education purposes; ...

Applications for permission for any other use should be addressed to the image library."

Step 3: Obtain the necessary permissions.

When requesting for permission to use an image, I suggest you:

• Make it clear that you are requesting permission to use an image (as opposed to, for example, asking for general information).
• Identify which image(s) you wish to use and where you downloaded them.
• Describe the intended use of the images. Some image provides may wish to know whether the images will be used for commercial purposes. You can read about the status of WikiTree here: "Is WikTree non-profit?"

Step 4: When uploading the image to WikiTree, explain how you obtained permission to use it (e.g. who granted you permission, when, and the scope of the permission).

This information should be put in the field that says:

"Enter the source. Say where you got this image ... This is required. If you found the image on another website explain why it is not copyrighted or how you obtained permission (images on Find A Grave and most other websites are copyrighted)."

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Think you missed something. Please read OGLv3. I have kicked this over with a copyright attorney as well. Between OGLv3 and that email it’s very cut and dry.

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Hi Ed, as I said, I encourage you to work through those four steps. To get to the question of whether or not you have permission to use the image on WikiTree, you first need to know the answers to:

• Where did you download the image?
• What terms of use apply to the image? For example, what terms did you agree to when downloading the image? Was there an express statement that the image was made available under the Open Government Licence? What limitations apply to the reuse of the image?