CHLAVM-POL-ACQ-01 — Acquisition Policy (Intake & Rights)

Organization: Canadian Hispanic Latin American Virtual Museum (CHLAVM)
Document ID: CHLAVM-POL-ACQ-01
Applies to: All assets entering the CHLAVM collections management workflow, including 2D, audio/video, 360° media, 3D/WebXR, documentation, and supporting files.
Status: Final (v1.0)
Owner (role): Collections Manager
Owner name: TBD
Approvals: Executive Direction; Board (if required)
Review cycle: Annually and when significant operational or governance changes occur

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1. Purpose

This policy outlines the process for accepting assets into the CHLAVM collections workflow, ensuring each intake is:

• • relevant to CHLAVM’s mandate and collecting priorities,
  • inventoried and documented consistently, and
  • cleared for rights and permissions before publication.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all acquisition pathways, including:

• • donations and community submissions,
  • transfers from partners or collaborators,
  • project-based creation or capture conducted for CHLAVM, including documentation, digitization, 360° capture, and 3D capture,
  • ingestion of “born-digital” assets (files already created digitally),
  • supporting documentation required for interpretation, rights clearance, and preservation, such as forms, agreements, and evidence files.

This policy governs only the intake and rights stage. Other requirements, such as digitization, metadata, preservation, accessibility, publishing, and rotation, are covered by separate policies and procedures.

3. Policy statement

CHLAVM will advance an asset through its lifecycle only when intake documentation and rights information are complete and verifiable. The rights information and permission state must be clearly displayed in the CHLAVM asset management system of record. Assets without verified rights must be labelled as Permission Required and withheld from publication.

4. Definitions

• • Asset: A digital item or file package, including all associated documentation, managed by CHLAVM. This includes images, documents, audio and video files, 360-degree and 3D media, metadata, and supporting rights evidence.
  • Asset_ID: A unique identifier assigned to each asset to ensure consistent tracking throughout its lifecycle in the CHLAVM collection management system. For example: CHLAVM-3D-CANDOMBE-MASK-001.
  • Asset record: The official entry for an asset in the CHLAVM asset management system inventory, which includes descriptive metadata, rights information, workflow status, and storage location.
  • Workflow status: The current lifecycle state of an asset within the collections management workflow, such as Submitted, Under Review, or Rights Pending.
  • Rights evidence: Documentation supporting the permission state, including signed forms, email correspondence, and waivers.
  • Restrictions: Documented limitations placed on the use of an asset, such as “no social,” time-limited, gallery-only, internal-only, no edits or cropping.
  • Preservation master: The highest-quality version of a file, retained for long-term preservation within the CHLAVM collections.
  • Access derivative: A file created from the preservation master and optimized for access and delivery to users (web, streaming, immersive/360).
  • Acquisition: The process of evaluating, accepting, documenting, and registering assets into the CHLAVM’s collections management workflow.

5. Requirements

5.1 Intake and inventory

1. 1. 1. Inventory each asset upon initial receipt, whether it is a digital file, a physical object to be captured, or a package.
      2. Confirm the asset’s relevance to CHLAVM’s mandate and document the justification for its intake.
      3. Record the source and provenance to the extent available, including provider, method of acquisition, and any relevant history for interpretation or rights.
      4. Create an asset record in the CHLAVM asset management system. At a minimum, include Asset_ID, Title, Asset Type, Source, and a brief Description.
      5. For asset bundles, such as folders or ZIP files, the contents and handling procedures must be documented in the asset record.

5.2 Written approvals and rights clearance (mandatory)

1. 1. 1. Obtain written approvals that explicitly authorize relevant uses for CHLAVM’s operations. Permissions must address, as applicable:
         • capture, if CHLAVM is conducting digitization or recording,
         • storage and preservation,
         • dissemination and publication, including web publication,
         • attribution and credit line requirements,
         • restrictions, such as limitations on public web access, creation of derivatives, or use for educational purposes only, and
         • term or expiration, if the permission is time-bound.
      2. Clear intellectual property and related rights relevant to the asset, including copyright agreements, moral rights, trademarks, licenses, and any applicable privacy or personality rights.
      3. Store or reference rights evidence in the asset record, such as agreement file name, document ID, or link, to ensure the permission basis is auditable.
      4. All rights clearance activities are conducted in accordance with the Copyright Act (Canada) and any other applicable Canadian legislation. Where rights are unclear, incomplete, or undocumented, the asset shall not be published or publicly disseminated until the lawful basis for use is confirmed and the relevant permissions are recorded in CHLAVM’s asset management system.

5.3 Permission state and publication holdback

1. 1. 1. The permission state for each asset must be clearly indicated in the CHLAVM asset management system of record.
      2. The permission state assigned at intake must be supported by the rights evidence recorded in the asset record and will determine whether the asset may proceed, remain restricted, or be held back from publication.
      3. Assign one of the following permission states to each asset as part of the intake process:
         • Cleared: The asset may proceed to publication workflows.
         • Restricted: The asset is available for internal use only, subject to specific constraints.
         • Permission Required: The asset may not be published until all necessary permissions have been obtained.
      4. Assets marked as Permission Required are restricted to internal use until permissions are cleared.

5.4 Decision outcome

1. 1. 1. Each intake must conclude with one documented outcome:
         • Accepted (moves forward in the lifecycle),
         • Deferred (kept pending with next steps and timeline), or
         • Rejected (not retained; record reason and disposition).
      2. Record the decision and its justification in the asset record or in the relevant acquisition documentation.
      3. Rejected assets and associated documentation shall be retained for a minimum of two (2) years for audit traceability unless legal, contractual, or privacy considerations require earlier deletion. The retention or deletion action must be documented in CHLAVM’s asset management system.

6. Roles and responsibilities

• • Collections Manager: Oversees the collections management workflow, verifies required documentation, and coordinates reviews and approvals.
  • Acquisition Lead: Logs each asset intake, assesses its relevance to CHLAVM’s mandate, and ensures that initial documentation is complete.
  • Rights Coordinator: Secures rights clearance and permissions, documents restrictions and credit line requirements, and ensures rights evidence is recorded or referenced in the asset record.
  • Rights Reviewer: Verifies permissions, restrictions, and supporting evidence, and confirms that documentation supports the assigned permission state.
  • Executive Director: Reviews and approves acquisitions in accordance with governance requirements and escalates to the Board for approval when necessary.

7. Records and required outputs

For each acquired asset, maintain the following:

• • an asset record in the CHLAVM’s asset management system,
  • a completed minimum metadata record, including permission state,
  • a reference to rights evidence, such as a permission document ID or path,
  • a documented decision outcome (Accepted, Deferred, or Rejected) and the corresponding date.

8. Acceptance criteria (pass/fail)

An acquisition meets this policy when all of the following are true:

• The asset is inventoried and recorded with a unique identifier and basic descriptive fields.
• The source and provenance are documented in the asset record.
• Written permissions and rights evidence are documented or referenced.
• The permission state is clearly displayed in the record, and any restrictions are explicitly stated.
• Assets without verified rights are labelled as Permission Required and are withheld from publication.