DAM and Collections Management for Cultural Heritage 2026

Rights, Access, and Governance
Lessons from Evolving the V&A's Digital Asset Management Strategy

Background and context
From 19th-century photographic documentation to today's digital-first strategies, the V&A's approach to image and asset management has always centred on one goal: improving public access to its collections. But with over 2.8 million objects and a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) supporting both curatorial and non-curatorial staff across the museum, ensuring appropriate access requires sophisticated governance frameworks and rights management. 

Meeting the multiple challenges
How rights, access, and governance considerations shape every aspect of digital collections management:

• Governance structures for access decisions: Who can approve what, and how do you embed these controls into your DAM workflows?
• Rights management at scale: Tracking permissions, restrictions, and licensing across diverse asset types (from JPEG images to videos and X-rays)
• Balancing internal staff access with public-facing collections: Managing different permission levels for curatorial research, commercial licensing, online publication and supporting access to physical collections
• System configuration to support rights tracking: Building fields, flags, and processes that make rights information actionable, not just documented
• National Video Archive of Performance: A case study of the challenges when balancing access to digital collections with legal requirements for access.
   

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Pam Young, Head Registrar (Documentation & Systems), V&A South Kensington