Rights-protected small publications in archives. Archival cataloguing, rights clearance and provision of (partially) anonymous, out-of-print and non-commercial works using examples of small publications from the student context

• Applicants: Dr. Dennis Hormuth; Dr. Gunnar B. Zimmermann
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 554535277

Pamphlets, posters, flyers and other self-produced small publications are kept in almost every public archive and also in many other cultural heritage institutions. In most of the cases, there is legal uncertainty surrounding this material, as the authors are neither known nor can they be researched. The project applied for here is intended to clarify the legal situation regarding the provision of the material for a) the general public and b) for research purposes. The project will focus on developing and testing a workflow for clearance of rights, their description and rights management. A proposal for handling digitised material and making it available in the publicly accessible and/or access-regulated digital space will also be developed. Clarification of the last point explicitly includes the question of publishing the digitised material for the purpose of academic citation.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Participating Institution: Universität Hamburg; Universitätsarchiv; Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg; Universitätsarchiv