How to Create a Municipal Digital Image Management Policy

This article provides starter language for an operational policy. Have your municipality's legal, privacy, and records professionals review it against the laws, collective agreements, and records schedules that apply in your jurisdiction before adoption.

Decide what the policy covers

Define “digital image” broadly enough to include still photography, video, graphics and edited derivatives used in municipal communications. Then, state which teams and contributors are covered.

Separate the communications library from the official records systems. A photo may be useful to marketing but it can also subject to a municipal retention or disclosure obligation. The policy should identify who decides where the authoritative record belongs.

This guide supports the workflow in Municipal Photo and Video Management: The Complete Guide.

1) Uploads and contributor responsibilities

The policy should define who may upload directly, who uses a submission form and who reviews incoming content. Staff should not assume that receiving a file gives the municipality unlimited rights to use it.

Starter language

Municipal staff may upload images and video created as part of authorized work. Contractors and community contributors must use the designated submission process and provide the creator's name, contact information, event or program, creation date, and any ownership or licence information requested. Submitted material remains unavailable for publication until an authorized reviewer assigns an approval and usage status.

Alberta Municipalities uses a similar control in its digital library intake: members are asked to submit material they own or are licensed to share, and the marketing team reviews submissions before adding them to the library.

2) Rights, consent, and identifiable people

The policy should tell staff where to record rights and consent information, who may confirm it and what status to use when the answer is uncertain. Requirements may differ for employees, contractors, residents, public events and minors, so legal review is essential.

Starter language

Each asset containing an identifiable person must carry the consent or use status required by municipal policy, along with the source of that status and any limits on audience, channel, geography or duration. If staff cannot verify the status needed for a proposed use, the asset must remain restricted until the municipality's designated reviewer decides how to proceed. Additional review is required for images involving minors or sensitive circumstances.

Rights information should stay attached to the asset. The IPTC Photo Metadata Standard includes dedicated rights-related properties, providing a useful reference for structuring these fields.

Be careful with descriptive metadata too. Names, contact information and precise locations may carry privacy implications so be concise in gathering legal consent before creating identifiable labels. Collect only what the municipality needs and protect it according to local policy.

3) Approval, access, and publication

Define who can change an asset's approval status and which users can see working or restricted material. One library can serve many departments without giving every user the same access.

Starter language

Communications staff designated by the municipality may approve, restrict or retire assets. Department users may access approved material relevant to their work. Drafts, unreviewed submissions and restricted assets are limited to authorized roles. External parties receive a scoped collection or approved download rather than access to the internal working library.

Approval should record the reviewer, date, and intended use. A later material change creates a new version and returns to the appropriate review route.

For external requests, see How Municipalities Can Share Photos and Videos With Media and Community Partners.

4) Credit, licensing and external sharing

Credit instructions are easiest to follow when they appear with the download. Store the creator, copyright owner, required credit line, permitted uses and licence end date as structured fields.

Starter language

Any asset shared outside the municipality must include the approved credit line and current usage terms. Staff may share only assets marked for the intended external use. Shared collections must exclude drafts, restricted material and expired licences. Access may be limited by recipient, password, download permission or expiry date where appropriate.

Do not write one generic licence for every asset unless counsel confirms that approach. Staff-created photography, commissioned work, and community submissions may carry different terms.

5) Retention, review, and takedown requests

An image can become unsuitable for use without losing its value as a record. The policy should distinguish removal from public or staff-facing views from deletion.

Starter language

Each reusable asset must have an owner and, where appropriate, a review or expiry date. Expired or superseded material will be removed from approved-use views. Requests to stop using or remove an image will be documented and routed to the designated privacy, legal, records or communications owner. No file subject to a records hold or retention requirement will be deleted through the communications workflow.

Define how urgent requests are handled after hours and who can pause publication while the municipality reviews the facts.

How contentcloud supports the policy

contentcloud can keep approval status, contributor details, rights information, permissions and review dates with the asset. Role-based access limits who can see or change restricted material, while approved collections give staff a cleaner place to work.

The platform can make a policy visible and easier to follow. Although, it cannot decide what consent, retention, disclosure or privacy requirements apply to a municipality but we can take that into account when setting up the content hub.

First step is to solidify the policies and the next step is showing how we demonstrate how simple managing assets becomes.

Explore contentcloud for municipalities to see how these controls fit a municipal communications library.