Library Of Congress Offers Free Digital Resources For Creators

The United States Library of Congress, the world's largest library, has made available an impressive collection of free digital resources that creators can utilize in their projects. These resources include historical audio recordings, digitized images, and other materials that are either in the public domain or have been cleared for public use. The Library's initiative aims to provide creators with access to cultural and historical materials while addressing the legal complexities surrounding sampling and reuse.

Citizen DJ: A Tool for Royalty-Free Audio Sampling

One of the Library's most notable initiatives is Citizen DJ, a free online tool that provides access to the Library's massive archive of royalty-free music and voice recordings. Created by Brian Foo, a Library of Congress Innovator-in-Residence, the tool was inspired by the sound collage aesthetic of golden age hip-hop records such as Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy. Foo recognized that this style of hip-hop production has become prohibitively expensive in recent years due to rights issues, and Citizen DJ aims to address this challenge.

The Citizen DJ tool offers access to audio recordings from the Library's collection that date back over a hundred years. These materials include soundtracks from early movies, public service announcements, classical recordings, spoken word content, and tracks from the Free Music Archive. The tool provides a colorful visual interface that allows users to audition audio using an online sequencer accompanied by sounds of classic drum machines. Once users identify materials they wish to use, they can download the relevant samples individually or obtain them as sample packs containing thousands of clips.

Free to Use and Reuse Sets: Curated Digital Collections

The Library of Congress has developed "Free to Use and Reuse Sets," a collection of digitized primary source materials that have been made available to the public copyright-free. According to the Library, these materials are either in the public domain, have no known copyright, or have been cleared by the copyright owner for public use. Librarians and archivists have assembled these materials into sets organized by categories for easy access.

The categories range from "Advertising Food" and "Baseball Cards" to "Fish and Fishing" and beyond. Each set contains a selected series of images, with directions to access additional materials within the category. These sets offer a treasure trove of historical and cultural materials that creators can incorporate into their projects. For example, one set includes an image of Queen Elizabeth II with Maryland governor Theodore McKeldin and University of Maryland president Wilson Homer 'Bull' Elkins at a Maryland Terrapins football game in College Park, Maryland, on October 19, 1957.

Free Music Archive: Rights-Free Music Collection

The Library of Congress has archived the Free Music Archive, a website devoted to the distribution and curation of rights-free music. As part of the Web Cultures Web Archive, the Library has preserved this site which documents the creation and sharing of emergent cultural traditions on the web.

From this collection, the Library has generated a set of 4,361 audio samples for use in music production software. The set contains 265 audio segments and 4,096 one-shot audio clips, ideal for use in samplers. These materials are available in two formats: 192 Kbps .mp3 format (183.2mb), which is ideal for previewing and browsing, and 16-bit .wav format (1.3gb), which is more suitable for production.

The works in this collection that are part of the Citizen DJ project have been dedicated to the public domain by their creators, making them free to use and reuse without restriction. Creators can copy, modify, distribute, and perform these works, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. While attribution is recommended, it is not required.

It's important to note that while most music and recordings in the Free Music Archive are not in the public domain, Citizen DJ provides a subset of recordings from the Free Music Archive that were published under a Public domain dedication license by their creators, thus making them part of the public domain.

National Jukebox: Historical Jazz and Popular Music Recordings

The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center and other contributing libraries and archives.

Jazz Collection

The Jazz sub-collection contains recordings from jazz and musical forms that are considered to be among the roots of jazz, including ragtime. The Library provides a content warning that these selections are presented as part of the record of the past and reflect the language, attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library does not endorse the views expressed in these recordings, which may contain content offensive to users.

From this collection, the Library has generated a set of 7,117 audio samples for use in music production software. The set contains 420 audio segments and 6,697 one-shot audio clips, available in 192 Kbps .mp3 format (317.9mb) for previewing and browsing, or 16-bit .wav format (1.9gb) for production.

The works in this collection have been identified to be in the public domain and are free to use and reuse without restriction. Creators can copy, modify, distribute, and perform these works, even for commercial purposes, without asking permission. Attribution is recommended but not required.

Popular Music Collection

The Popular Music sub-collection contains music that was considered popular at the time of recording. Like the Jazz collection, these selections are presented as historical recordings that reflect the language, attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times, and the Library does not endorse the views expressed in these recordings, which may contain content offensive to users.

From this collection, the Library has generated a set of 4,360 audio samples for use in music production software. The set contains 264 audio segments and 4,096 one-shot audio clips, available in 192 Kbps .mp3 format (132.5mb) for previewing and browsing, or 16-bit .wav format (805.9mb) for production.

The works in this collection have also been identified to be in the public domain and are free to use and reuse without restriction. Under the Music Modernization Act, items in this collection that were published prior to 1923 entered the public domain on January 1, 2022, and became free to use and reuse. Creators can copy, modify, distribute, and perform these works, even for commercial purposes, without asking permission. Attribution is recommended but not required.

Free to Use and Reuse Dataset

The Library of Congress has created a dataset containing metadata records and images for 2,610 curated selections featured in the Library's Free to Use and Reuse Sets, along with links to images for the full digital objects represented in the sets. This dataset includes only those items which are accessible via the Library of Congress' API.

The dataset includes comprehensive documentation of source data or collection provenance, the contents of the data package, and how the data package was created. It provides metadata in .csv and .json formats, along with 2,610 .jpg images.

This dataset was created as part of an LC Labs experiment in collaboration with AVP to explore ways of combining items from multiple collections, across media types, with different forms of existing metadata into a single, cohesive dataset. While the Free to Use and Reuse Sets were originally created on specific themes, the comprehensive dataset allows users to rearrange and reimagine the contents according to themes and priorities of their own. This approach also encourages consideration of how organizational schemes can reveal the priorities of the people and institutions that originally created the collections.

Content Considerations and Limitations

While the Library of Congress provides these materials free of charge, creators should be aware of certain considerations and limitations:

1. Historical Context: Many of the materials, particularly the audio recordings, reflect the language, attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of the times in which they were created. The Library does not endorse the views expressed in these materials, and some may contain content that is offensive to modern audiences.

2. Respectful Use: The Library asks that artists approach the materials in these collections with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

3. Legal Rights: While the Library has made efforts to ensure that these materials are free to use, creators should be aware that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

4. File Sizes: Some of the audio sample packs are quite large, particularly the .wav format files, which may require significant storage space and bandwidth to download.

Conclusion

The Library of Congress offers a wealth of free digital resources that creators can utilize in their projects. From the Citizen DJ tool for audio sampling to the Free to Use and Reuse Sets of digitized images, these resources provide access to historical and cultural materials that have been cleared for public use. The collections include historical audio recordings from the National Jukebox, rights-free music from the Free Music Archive, and a comprehensive dataset of metadata and images.

These resources not only provide valuable materials for creators but also represent an innovative approach to making cultural heritage accessible to the public. By addressing the legal complexities surrounding sampling and reuse, the Library of Congress is helping to lower barriers to creativity and enabling new forms of artistic expression.

Sources

1. U.S. Library of Congress builds royalty-free hip-hop sampling site
2. "Free To Use and Reuse Sets" From the Library of Congress
3. Free Music Archive
4. The National Jukebox: Jazz
5. The National Jukebox: Popular Music
6. Free to Use and Reuse Dataset