Building Your Collection

Obtaining the ‘physical’ work, through a donation, purchase, short and long-term loan or other form, does not mean obtaining the rights. This needs to be made explicit in an agreement with the person or institution who holds them. The moment your institution acquires the work is also one of the best chances to be in touch with the rightsholder.

• Ensure that the contracts you rely on have a clause that foresees the obtention of the necessary rights to pursue your objectives.
• The modes of acquisition and scope of the rights that you will be obtaining of the works will also have an impact on the manner you manage the IPRs underlying the works in your collections. For instance, do you want to make an exhibition of this work, or display it in your online repository? Make sure you ask for permission to do all that.
• Document the information accurately. It is important that you record the rights you have obtained, the duration, the requirements and other conditions attached to it, for transparency and to facilitate the use of the works across the organisation and in the long run.  
• Record as much rights-related metadata as possible. For instance, can you obtain from the donor, seller or other information about the author, date of creation, date of publication, etc.? This information might be difficult to obtain otherwise, and will help you

1) Acquiring a physical artwork does not necessarily mean you have obtained all the rights you may need in the future.

2) Make sure that the contract through which you obtained the piece (be it a purchase, loan, donation, or other forms) grants you enough rights to pursue your objectives.

3) There is no point in being too clear. Make sure this contract mentions all uses that you intend to make accurately and in detail. This way you can avoid going through extra layers of clearance in the future.

4) Good documentation goes a long way. All relevant information about the contract, rights obtained, conditions, and duration should be well documented to facilitate internal use.

5) Retrieve and record as much metadata as possible – this will facilitate future use and circulation of the work.