“… True, since the early days of the internet in the mid-1990s museums have tended to provide glimpses of otherwise hidden parts of their collections online. But these typically came in low resolution and with restricted rights. To obtain a high-quality scan or photograph of an item, institutions have hitherto tended to charge fees and impose additional restrictions on usage. The copyright may have expired, but the property rights have not. Now Yale University aims to change all that. In an announcement on May 10th, the university says its libraries, museums and archives will provide free universal access to high-resolution digitisations of holdings in the public domain …” (more)
[Economist, 1 June]