Visitors to a number of UK libraries and museums—including institutions as large as the National Library of Scotland—were disappointed this week, met with empty display cases or blank pieces of paper where historical cultural artifacts should be. It's all part of the "Free Our History" protest organized by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), a response to copyright laws that make it difficult to display unpublished works legally.

"At the moment the duration of copyright in certain unpublished works is to the end of 2039, regardless of how old the work is," according to CILIP's change.org petition. "No other country in Europe has such restrictive provisions. European institutions are able to use such important historical material freely and lawfully, but in the UK we cannot." The copyright duration CILIP is referring to applies to unpublished works created before 1989 according to the BBC. CILIP's says an example might be a young girl's note to her soldier father during WWI.

The protest comes days after the UK's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) launched a new copyright licensing scheme aimed at fixing issues around "orphan works," or creative works where the rights holder can't be identified or traced. With that change, the government's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) can grant licenses so orphan works can be "reproduced on websites, in books, and on TV without breaking the law, while protecting the rights of owners so they can be remunerated if they come forward." (CILIP estimates up to 50 percent of archival records in the UK are "orphan works," and the BBC says 91 million such items exist in country.)

However, the government's official release on the new scheme leaves a specific question unanswered, one that impacts a number of museums. Namely, why aren't unpublished works addressed? In the notes to editors section, the UK government reiterates that "the government will shortly be publishing a consultation on reducing the duration of copyright in certain unpublished works and the 2039 rule." And while BIS has told museums they can display the entities that would be in these empty cases according to the Independent, the visual absence of such works simply reinforces the desire for 2039 reform.

"The campaign is calling on the UK Government to reduce the term of copyright protection in certain unpublished works from the end of the year 2039 to the author’s lifetime plus 70 years, as per provisions laid out in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act (ERRA) 2013 [PDF]," CILIP's release reads.

The specific legislation complicating matters is the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. According to the National Archives' description of this unusual situation, "literary, dramatic, and musical works that were still unpublished when the current statute, the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, came into force in 1989 will be in copyright until 2039 at the earliest—this is especially important in archives, where most material is classified as unpublished." True to its promise, the UK government opened a consultation on the subject on October 31, and they can continue considering it through December 12, 2014.