Intellectual Property and Public–Private Partner Motivations: Lessons from a Digital Library

Abstract

Cultural institutions such as libraries and museums are characteristically associated with public interests, broadly considered here as encompassing both the public good and public goods.These institutions often engage in collaborative relationships with for-profit firms or enterprises to better further a public educational, scholarly, or other publicly oriented mission. Thus, the public–private partnership model (PPP) is not new for memory institutions like museums, libraries, and archives, whether governmental actors like the Smithsonian Institution or private ones like the J. Paul Getty Museum. These relationships typically leverage mutual interests and recognize the distinct motivations of the respective parties. They often embody a symbiotic exchange of corporate expertise and financial resources, on the one hand – and on the other hand, subject matter expertise and collections associated the cultural institution, whether a museum, library, or archives. This is especially the case where the partnership facilitates the ability of a cultural institution to improve access to reproductions of collection images, books, films, and educational materials. This chapter considers a partnership formed between the University of Michigan Library (UML or the Library) and Google Inc. (Google), leading up to the creation of the HathiTrust Digital Library (HathiTrust). It discusses some of the key motivations for this collaborative relationship between the Library as a cultural institution housed within a public research university serving multiple stakeholders and Google as a private corporation with a duty to its shareholders. This relationship leveraged common interests and recognized the distinct goals of each partner. As each partner entered the relationship, it remained true to its core responsibilities and missions. The genesis of and ongoing collaboration exemplified by HathiTrust thus provides a case study of a unique and successful partnership with broader implications for global intellectual property (IP) governance and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).