Collections policy
Rights & Reuse
LUX Light Archive exists to preserve and connect lighthouse heritage across time — with provenance, attribution, and traceability.
This page describes how rights apply to the archive software, original editorial content, and third-party materials. For the philosophy behind these choices, read Legal & Ethical Principles.
Purpose
The archive preserves lighthouse heritage as cultural memory: towers, lights, lenses, documents, routes, photographs, and the stories that connect them. Rights policy supports long-term stewardship, researcher trust, and responsible reuse.
Software
The software that builds and serves this archive — website, frontend, backend, APIs, and review tools — is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.
Modified versions deployed as a web service must remain open under the same license. See the repository LICENSE file.
Archive content
Unless otherwise stated on a specific record, original archive texts, metadata, editorial descriptions, taxonomy, and original illustrations are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
Reuse requires attribution, non-commercial terms, and share-alike conditions for adaptations.
Third-party materials
Photographs, maps, scans, and historical documents retain their own rights. Third-party material never inherits the archive content license automatically. Each item carries its own rights status, source, and attribution where known.
When rights status is Unknown, do not assume reuse is permitted until reviewed.
Commercial use
Original archive content under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International is intended for non-commercial reuse with attribution. Commercial use requires separate permission from LUX143.
Third-party media may carry additional restrictions regardless of archive content licensing. Contact the archive for institutional or commercial enquiries.
How to attribute
- Archive text or metadata: LUX Light Archive / LUX143, record title, LUX ID, record URL, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
- Software: LUX Light Archive software, LUX143, GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.
- Images: credit the creator and source shown on the record; include rights status when reusing.
How to cite
Researchers should cite the public record URL, preserve the LUX ID, and note the archive version accessed. See How to Cite for examples and BibTeX entries.
Copyright issues
If you believe material in the archive infringes your rights, or if you wish to discuss permissions, please use the Contact page. Include the LUX record URL or LUX ID and a description of the material.