The copyright management guidelines aim to support best practices in copyright management in cultural heritage organisations with the ultimate goal of developing a harmonised approach to copyright management. They are organised in five sections, and for each of them they provide tips on the workflow, who to involve, who to inform, what to document and how to start the discussion.

These guidelines were created by the Europeana Copyright Community Steering Group. They are licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license. They were first published in March 2022. These guidelines do not constitute any legal advice.

The following sources have been used: Rights management – suggested procedure, Collections Trust, 2017; and Finding the Public Domain: Copyright Review Management System Toolkit, Melissa Levine, Richard C. Adler, Justin Bonfiglio, Kristina Eden, and Brian S. Hall.

You can navigate the guidelines through the table below, and by scrolling down through this page.

These guidelines are also available as a pdf, in a shorter version.

Long-term goal Harmonise all approaches to copyright across your organisation Tips to develop an overarching policy related to the strategic objectives of your organisation
Mid-term goal Harmonise a specific approach to risk management for your organisation Tips to evaluate risk and risk appetite, and consider whether other tools are more appropriate to mitigating risk in addition to copyright (in other words, don’t use copyright for everything)
Phase 1 Foundation Tips to develop adequate workflows to deal with copyright at multiple stages of collection management across your organisation	Phase 2 Expansion Tips to nurture sufficient copyright knowledge and support across your organisation	Phase 3 Integration Tips to integrate copyright needs in activities and projects across your organisation

Harmonise all approaches to copyright across your organisation

Develop an overarching policy related to the strategic objectives of your organisation

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Agree on approaches to copyright and re-use across your organisation Ensure the whole organisation is aware and follows a consistent approach and policy	Senior management Licensing specialists Business managers Compliance specialists Digital specialists	Everyone else in your organisation	The top-level policy that you develop	External policy documents published online	Rely on guidance and case studies from other organisations, evidence of good practices, and your own network

Harmonise a specific approach to risk management for your organisation

Evaluate risk and risk appetite, and consider whether other tools are more appropriate to mitigating risk in addition to copyright

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Agree on approaches to copyright risk and risk appetite at the organisational level.	This includes the senior management, business managers, compliance teams, curatorial teams and digital staff.	All other teams across the organisation must be informed.	A risk framework or assessment template to inform compliance.	Internal policy documents, consider publishing online to benefit others.	Weigh and discuss the copyright risks and benefits. Show the risk of lack of copyright management. Show and compare the risks of open or closed licenses.

Phase 1. Foundation

Develop adequate workflows to deal with copyright at multiple stages of collection management across your organisation

Acquisition

As far as possible, obtain copyright information, licences, and transfers at the time of acquiring collection materials

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Integrate copyright transfer or licence clauses into contracts Prepare questionnaires on copyright ownership for donors and sellers Create relevant metadata fields in inventories	Acquiring curator / purchaser Organisational lead or team for acquisitions Any legal advisors	Access Communications Marketing	Ownership of all forms of copyright in the collection materials, as far as known, and any known gaps in knowledge	Record copyright information within donation Purchase agreements as far as possible In collection metadata Inventory records	Draft / discuss general donation agreements and purchase contracts that have a dedicated space for copyright information

Documentation and use of collection materials

Record copyright information about collection materials and incoming loans, keep records up to date, and ensure visibility of copyright information and licenses

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow

Who to involve

Who to inform

What to document

How to document

How to start the discussion

Maintain records - record changes to copyright status
Assess your records at a suitable level to the scale and complexity of the collection materials (eg. at item or collection level as the case may be)

Responsible curator
Documentation team
Licensing team
Access team

Communications
Senior management

(inform about possible licensing / re-use possibilities according to assessment)

Known changes to copyright status (eg. death of author or acquisition of rights)
Known details of rights ownership, licences issued or received

Collection metadata/inventory. Use standardised licences where possible

React to circumstances, projects, changes to copyright status, etc.
Assess (parts of the) collection and possible licensing
Draft standard licences

Digitisation and reproduction

Ensure copyright in photographs and reproductions are cleared with those digitising the content

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Prioritise digitisation procedures where no new copyright emerges Conclude contracts with third party digitisation providers or staff members which ensure copyright in digitisations (where arising) is the property of the organisation	Responsible curator Digitisation manager or team Any legal advisors	Any relevant internal teams	Agreement over ownership of copyright in any contracts Any licences received from third parties to enable digitisation or making available of digitisations	Collection metadata/inventory Contracts	Check for best practices and examples within your jurisdiction and sector Draft standard contracts for future digitisation projects

Digital access and re-use

Maintain clear policies on copyright and access to and re-use from your collection materials, and make guidance on copyright available or link to existing guidance.

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Define a top level access and re-use policy Prepare and publish procedures for applying the policy Prepare and publish guidance for users on understanding the policy	Access teams Licensing teams Digitisation manager Business managers	Publication teams Trading teams Communications	All aspects of outward licensing from collections (eg. licences used, standard licence terms, prices, conditions, contact points) Guidance	Published materials (eg website) and internal policies and guidance	Champion the value of licences and re-use statements for enabling use of the collections Exemplify how missing licences might damage the collection (ie. limited legitimate reuse may be permitted)

Phase 2. Expansion

Nurture sufficient copyright knowledge and support across your organisation

Supporting staff

Ensure staff in the organisation have enough training or support available

Workflow	Who to involve	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Establish copyright education levels for all roles Design guidance and training packages targeted to each level Work with human resources teams and managers to ensure that all staff receive guidance and training according to their level	Human resources teams Managers Compliance and copyright experts	Copyright education levels Recording the depth and breadth of information that must be known at that level The amount of training required at that level (frequency, detail)	Internal records available to managers and teams	Show risks of lack of copyright knowledge as connected to the strategic objectives of the organisation Check for external input Benchmarking

Supporting administration

Senior management understands the importance of dealing with copyright adequately

Workflow	Who to involve	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Specific copyright education level for senior management, which focuses on communicating the importance of copyright to different aspects of the organisation’s work and risks Dedicated training/copyright induction processes for senior managers	Human resources teams Senior managers Compliance and copyright experts	Copyright education level Recording the level the information that must be known at this level The amount of training required at this level	Internal records available to managers and teams	Case studies Risks of not understanding copyright Benchmarking

Phase 3. Integration

Integrate copyright needs in activities and projects across your organisation

Short-term integration

The copyright requirements of every activity and project are assessed during the planning stage

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion
Ensure consideration of copyright is included on relevant plans and templates, eg. project proposal documents	Any team planning a project	Senior managers Copyright managers Communications	The copyright role in the project The copyright resource requirements of the project	Project plan	Draft project proposal templates etc. with a dedicated space for copyright information.

Long-term integration

Adequate copyright resources are allocated to activities and projects

Workflow	Who to involve	Who to inform	What to document	How to document	How to start the discussion