The Public Domain Artwork Reproduction and Its Metadata: Access, Dissemination, and Use

Co-Chairs: Christine Sundt, Editor, Visual Resources: An International Journal of Documentation  and Anne Collins Goodyear, Co-Director, Bowdoin College Museum of Art and Past President, College Art Association

This proposed session looks at the question of how scholars use and access reproductions of public domain works of art  in print, online, and elsewhere. While works in the public domain are no longer under copyright , questions persist about how to take advantage of them. A related question is the subject of the metadata that documents the image and often accompanies reproductions, which has the potential to serve as a rich data mine for digital  scholars. Our hope is to have a frank discussion of what’s working for scholars, archivists, curators,  and artists and what points of confusion or uncertainty persist in order to help make these resources more broadly available.