Trove Content Inclusion Policy

1. Introduction

The National Library of Australia (the Library) delivers Trove. Trove is a digital platform that provides access to billions of cultural heritage items from around 1000 Australian collecting institutions. Trove offers collecting institutions a digital presence alongside their physical footprint. For Australians, it is a digital public service that offers a single access point to Australia’s cultural and intellectual heritage. 

Collections in Trove vary broadly from historical newspapers through to websites and to modern and ancient art. Digital items are delivered through Trove or through Trove Partner websites. Trove can also be used to locate books and physical items held in collections around the country.  

Trove is about access. It facilitates discovery by providing freely available access to rich and diverse collections held around Australia. Trove is a mechanism for connecting the Australian public to the vastness of the Australian cultural collection but does not replace the need for organisations to continue to hold and manage their collections individually. While Trove has data management capabilities, these are to support the primary function of access, not designed to be a standalone service. Trove has a diverse range of users which have been grouped based on the way they interact with Trove. These are:

Content Stewards

Content Stewards collect items related to Australia’s culture on behalf of Australians of all generations. They include galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and local historical societies that may be large or small, funded or volunteer-run. They share a common goal to have their collections preserved and accessed now and over time. The engagement with Content Stewards is formalised through Trove Collaborative Services Partnership Agreement.

Content Creators

Content Creators are individuals or organisations that create appealing, new, and engaging content based on their rigorous interrogation of data on different topics. The content they create can be educational or entertaining. Their creations are stored in Trove and often attracts others to engage and explore these topics further. Content Consumers Content Consumers are individuals or organisations who view and interact with the content in Trove and may obtain copies of content where rights and permissions exist. The reasons for their search vary from interest, education, research, or profit. This group includes the public, students, educators, researchers, businesses, and vendors in the cultural heritage sector. 

Content Consumers

Content Consumers are individuals or organisations who view and interact with the content in Trove and may obtain copies of content where rights and permissions exist. The reasons for their search vary from interest, education, research, or profit. This group includes the public, students, educators, researchers, businesses, and vendors in the cultural heritage sector.

2. Purpose

The Trove Content Inclusion Policy (The Policy) defines the scope and nature of content included in Trove whilst also providing a framework of guidance for growing discoverable content overtime. As provider of Trove, the Library retains responsibility for safeguarding the national asset and remains ultimately responsible for decisions relating to the scope and nature of content within, decisions regarding this are at the discretion of the Library. There may be some categories of content the Library deems not suitable for inclusion. This is to ensure Trove’s trusted collections continue to reflect the breadth and depth of Australia’s cultural heritage and remain relevant to the Australian public for generations to come.

The Policy is intended to work in conjunction with other guiding documents, including but not limited to the Trove Strategy: https://trove.nla.gov.au/about/what-trove. The Policy provides:

  • Principles that guide the prioritisation and inclusion of content contributed to and made discoverable through Trove.
  • Pathways for content to be contributed to Trove that both lowers barriers to and enables the discovery of cultural content.
  • Responsibilities of the Library in delivering Trove, as well as Content Stewards, Content Creators, and Content Consumers in relation to the collections available in Trove.

The strength and value of Trove comes from the many and varied contributions of Trove Partners and other Content Stewards and Creators. Trove provides a platform for promoting access to these collections and is not intended to encroach on the collecting guidelines of any participating organisation.

3. Principles

Trove is ambitious in its desire to grow and develop in content and relevance and recognises that it must do so in a measured and consistent way. The framework that guides this is defined by five overarching principles to ensure Trove continues to deliver benefit to the Australian people.

3.1 Trove collections are for the Australian people

Collections included in Trove are held in Australia, are primarily about Australia or the Pacific, and are of interest to Australians. A collection that meets at least one of these criteria is eligible for inclusion, with collections that span multiple or increase the diversity of content in Trove most desired. As Australian culture changes, Trove will continue to grow and evolve to reflect these shifts and act as custodians of the Nation’s cultural heritage, ensuring we do not lose the culture that has come before.

3.2 Trove recognises Australia’s First Nations peoples

The Library and Trove recognise and respect the cultural and intellectual property rights of First Nations peoples. The Library recognises the rights of First Nations peoples as the primary guardians, interpreters, and the decision-makers of their heritage. The Library has implemented an Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Protocol (ICIP) which is championed in our work and determines the access and use of ICIP in its collections. Trove welcomes collections where there has been community consultation and prior and informed consent has been obtained for the discoverability of First Nations content on Trove.

More information and guidance on this topic can be found here: https://www.nla.gov.au/using-library/indigenouscultural-and-intellectual-property

3.3 Trove respects intellectual property rights

Trove facilitates access to collections held in libraries, museums, historical societies, galleries, publishers, archives, and many other cultural and research institutions around Australia. Given the wide variety of material, the copyright status of these items can be as varied as the sources. Trove welcomes collections that provide free and equitable access. Trove understands and respects the legal landscape in which content is produced, and the associated access restrictions.

Much of the material discoverable on Trove is in the public domain; that is material which is not protected by copyright. Other material may be publicly viewable under rights restrictions.

More information on Copyright and how it impacts the material on Trove can be found here: https://trove.nla.gov.au/help/usingtrove/copyright-and-re-use

3.4 Trove aims for access without barriers

Trove collects so that all Australians can engage with their cultural collections without barriers. Trove welcomes collections that can be accessed by the Australian public as digital records, or physical items contributed as metadata. Digital collections contributed to Trove should be open and accessible, with platforms searchable, stable, and capable of linking to and from Trove. Physical collections contributed as metadata records should be accessible to users on site, or remotely through other services where rights allow.

3.5 Trove exists for community benefit

Trove plays a role in education, research, innovation, powering a sense of Australian identity, and fostering an inclusive society. The Library trusts that content provided by others is in line with our guidelines. The content and collections in Trove reflect Australia's social history over time for the benefit of researchers and other Content Consumers both today and in the future.

4. Pathways to Trove

Trove acts as a single access point for Content Consumers and Content Creators to search, view, read, cite, and purchase copies of content where rights or licence conditions allow. Trove links the collections of all participating Content Stewards, including material made available through Digitisation Partnerships, to the Content Consumers and Content Creators for a seamless experience.

4.1 Contribution from Content Stewards

Content Stewards can choose to contribute their digitised, born-digital, or metadata-only collections to Trove to support physical access. Content Stewards use their own workflows and technology systems to interface with Trove’s backend systems. They retain ownership and responsibility for the management of their collections – cataloguing, description, discovery aides and access permissions. Trove acknowledges them as the owner of the items for Content Consumers and Creators to see and use.

Information on how collections can be contributed to Trove by Content Stewards can be found on Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/partners/partner-services/contribute

4.2 Contemporary Australian publications

Australia's published collection is contributed to the national, state and territory libraries in accordance with legal deposit legislation. These publications are available through Trove either as metadata only records or as digital publications through National edeposit.

For more information about National edeposit visit the website: https://ned.gov.au/ned/

4.3 National Library of Australia digitisation program

The Library is a leader in digitisation and innovative online delivery of Australian heritage for all Australians. The Library’s digitisation program allows content stewards, content consumers, and content creators (including the Library) to fund digitisation projects to preserve and access the documents, curiosities and stories important to the community. Collections digitised as part of the Library’s digitisation program are delivered and made discoverable through Trove where rights permissions allow.

More information about digitising for Trove can be found in the Trove help pages at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/partners/partner-services/digitise

4.4 Australian Web Archive

Trove delivers the content of the Australian Web Archive (AWA). The AWA collects online publications including websites, webpages, and other web documents, such as PDFs.

For more information about the Australian Web Archive please visit the website: https://www.nla.gov.au/collections/building-our-collections/australian-web-archive

4.5 On platform enrichment

Content Stewards can provide enhanced metadata to enrich collections that can improve the discovery and re-use of collections for Content Consumers and Creators, and be downloaded by other Content Stewards to enhance their records. Information on providing enriched metadata can be found in the Trove Help pages: https://trove.nla.gov.au/partners/partner-services/adding-collections-trove/provide-enriched-data

Content Consumers can enrich collections in Trove through adding tags, notes, corrections to records, creating lists of records, or submitting images to Trove to enhance discoverability and re-use of collections. Information regarding on platform enhancement of records can be found in Trove Help pages: https://trove.nla.gov.au/help/become-voluntrove

4.6 Future Pathways

The Library understands that the technology currently utilised across the nation and globally is constantly evolving. The Library aims to be at the forefront of these changes where possible as this may also impact and/or expand the available pathways to Trove. The Library is open to exploring new pathways as opportunities are available. Our available pathway options will be updated regularly, and an updated list of pathways can be accessed through the Trove help pages.

5. Responsibilities

The below section outlines the responsibilities of Trove and its user groups.

5.1 Trove platform

The Library as provider of Trove will ensure a stable delivery platform that is accessible and reliable for Content Creators, Content Stewards, and the Australian people. Collections contributed to Trove will be managed in alignment with the Trove Collaborative Services (TCS) Partnership agreement: https://trove.nla.gov.au/partners/become-partner/partner-terms-and-conditions

The Library is responsible for maintaining and developing User Experience of the platform's discovery and delivery capabilities.

5.2 Content Stewards

Content Stewards are guided and supported by various documents, including the Terms and Conditions of the Trove Collaborative Services Partnership Agreement (https://trove.nla.gov.au/partners/become-partner/partner-terms-and-conditions) which details the various responsibilities of becoming a Content Steward.

 This includes, but is not limited to, the long-term management and preservation of their contributed metadata collections as well as their online delivery. The various collections contributed to Trove, are contributed with the understanding that they will be managed and maintained in a manner that enables users of Trove to reliably access the content which has been made discoverable on Trove.

5.3 Content Creators and Content Consumers

Content Creators and Content Consumers are expected to abide by Trove Policies and Terms of Use available on Trove at https://trove.nla.gov.au/about/policies. Users of the Trove API and metadata are expected to abide by the Trove API Terms of Use (https://trove.nla.gov.au/about/create-something/using-api/trove-api-terms-use). These terms of use will guide how variations from this agreement are managed.

5.4 Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Protocol

The Library as provider of Trove is implementing the use and access of collections in accordance with our Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) Protocol. The Library’s ICIP Protocol is, over time, being applied to the display and delivery in Trove of metadata, data and digital objects.

Content Stewards are responsible for managing their own policies and frameworks in relation to Indigenous cultural and intellectual property. Content Stewards should have an understanding and acknowledgement of the Library’s ICIP protocol and be willing to work with the Library in its implementation.

The Library will provide information on our ICIP Protocol, what it means in relation to Trove, and why metadata, data or digital objects may be amended, removed or suppressed under the Protocol.

5.5 Takedown of records

Trove includes millions of records from hundreds of Content Stewards. A condition of the TCS Partnership Agreement is that Content Stewards have the relevant approvals to make content discoverable or accessible through Trove.

Given the scale of records available Trove relies on members of the community to alert us to content that may be inappropriate for Trove, for example, contravenes privacy law, is defamatory, or is in breach of copyright.

Managing requests for removal of content in Trove is conducted under the Library’s takedown requests process. More information about takedown requests, including principles and process, can be found in the Library’s Takedown request page: https://www.nla.gov.au/takedown-requests

6. Review

The Policy will be reviewed every three (3) years or in accordance with any fundamental changes to the governance of Trove by the Library.