SMITHSONIAN DIRECTIVE 610, 

March 31, 2011

DIGITIZATION AND DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT POLICY

I. Purpose 1

II. Principles 1

III. Background 2

IV. Scope 3

V. Definitions 3

VI. Roles and Responsibilities 6

VII. Unit Digitization Plans 8

VIII. Project Digital Asset Management Plans 8

I. Purpose This directive describes the policy for the acquisition, 

creation, management and oversight of Smithsonian 

digital assets, and mandates development of unit 

digitization and digital asset management plans. It also 

establishes the functions and roles of the Smithsonian’s 

Digitization Program Office (DPO), which oversees the 

implementation of this policy.

II. Principles The following principles provide the basis for this policy:

• Digitization of the collections (including ancillary

information and objects) and management of borndigital materials (assets originally created in digital 

format) support the Smithsonian’s strategic plan and 

are important goals for the Institution;

• Units, programs, research centers and offices are 

responsible for setting priorities for digitization, for 

maintaining digital assets under their control, and for 

establishing written unit digitization plans and 

project digital asset management plans that 

document how these assets are developed and 

administered throughout their life cycle; 

• Digital assets are intended to be usable and 

interoperable;
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II. Principles

(continued)

• Digital assets are publicly accessible unless covered 

by an allowable restriction category, as set forth in 

SD 609, Digital Asset Access and Use;

• Digital assets are valuable resources and their 

future economic sustainability throughout their life 

cycle should be considered at the time of asset 

creation or acquisition; and

• The acquisition of objects and collections by 

Smithsonian units should include provisions for 

creating and sustaining the digital assets associated 

with these acquisitions.

III. Background In 2009, the Institution launched a digitization strategic 

planning initiative, recognizing that digitization is a core 

activity of the Institution, undertaken to make 

Smithsonian resources available for the widest possible 

use by current and future generations. The resulting 

digitization strategic plan established the requirement 

for a pan-Institutional policy and guidance to ensure 

that the Smithsonian manages its digital assets 

throughout their life cycle as an enterprise resource, 

and to ensure that digitization efforts are implemented 

with the highest degree of professionalism and 

expertise.

Effectively managing the Smithsonian’s digital 

resources should:

• increase the number and quality of digital assets;

• enhance the usability and interoperability of digital 

assets;

• allow for greater interaction with users via different 

technology platforms, such as the Internet and 

mobile computing;

• preserve digital assets that are in danger of loss due 

to deterioration or obsolescence;

• enhance preservation of physical assets, including 

collections, by reducing wear and tear on originals;
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III. Background

(continued)

• use resources more effectively to achieve greater 

efficiencies in workflow, in use of technologies, and 

in use of the expertise that is available across the 

Institution.

Because digital assets are created and acquired at the 

unit level, stewardship begins at this level. Units must 

develop digitization and digital asset management 

plans to guarantee Smithsonian digital resources will be 

accessible into the future so the Institution can continue 

pursuing its mission to increase and diffuse knowledge 

throughout the world.

IV. Scope This directive applies to all units that acquire, create, or 

maintain Smithsonian digital assets, prepare them for 

data interchange and interoperability to support sharing 

and repurposing, or manage other life-cycle functions of 

these assets.

This directive covers collections that are digital, which 

are also subject to SD 600, Collections Management.

SD 600 and this policy will be harmonized further in 

future revisions. If there are conflicting requirements 

between this policy and SD 600, the latter takes 

precedence for collections that are digital.

Policies governing access and use of digital assets are 

set forth in SD 609, Digital Asset Access and Use.

This directive covers all digital assets of the Institution 

except those assets that contain records of the 

Institution, as defined by SD 807, Requests for 

Smithsonian Institution Information.1 These assets are 

covered under SD 501, Archives and Records of the 

Smithsonian Institution.

V. Definitions • Accessibility — refers to the relative ease with 

which digital assets are available through 

1 SD 807 defines the business records of the Institution as email, contracts, employee records, 

donor, vendor and lender records, and other information created, stored, or maintained by the 

Smithsonian in the course of conducting its business.
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V. Definitions

(continued)

technological means to be accessed, shared, 

exchanged, and otherwise used.

• Digital asset — content that is recorded and 

transferred in a digital format. It may include text, 

still images, moving images and sound recordings, 

collections that are digital (i.e., digital art), research 

datasets and other types of media originally created 

in digital format or digitized from another format or 

state (i.e., a digital surrogate) that are created, 

stored, or maintained by the Smithsonian. For the 

purpose of this directive, digital assets also include 

metadata used to describe the digital asset and its 

content.

• Digitization — a set of processes that converts 

physical resources to a digital form, or that creates 

materials in a digital form (born digital). These 

processes include:

— Identification, selection and prioritization of 

materials to be digitized;

— Digital asset creation or conversion;

— Creation of descriptive and technical metadata 

sufficient to allow retrieval and management of 

the digital assets and to provide basic contextual 

information for the user; and

— Quality control of digital assets and metadata.

• Disposition — the process of permanently 

removing a digital asset from the Institution by 

transferring it to another entity or, if it is no longer 

needed, by destroying it. 

• Interoperability — the ability of diverse systems to 

work together effectively.

• Life-cycle management — a comprehensive 

approach to managing digital assets that addresses 

these assets through all the stages of their “life.” 

(Also see “Project digital asset management plan,” 

below.) It begins with planning for the creation or 

acquisition of a digital asset, continues through the 

maintenance and use of the asset, and ends only 
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V. Definitions

(continued)

when the asset is legally transferred to another 

entity or disposed. Life-cycle management functions 

are sequential but a digital asset may go through

certain stages of the life cycle multiple times as it is

used by different groups or for different purposes.

• Metadata — the information used to describe the 

intellectual content as well as the technical 

properties of a digital asset, such as date/time of 

creation, subject, restrictions, equipment used, 

dimensions, location, title or other descriptors. It 

may be structured (following Smithsonian and 

community-specific guidelines) in ways that allow 

easier access and interoperability, and that ensure 

the asset can be used in the long term. 

• Preservation — the process of maintaining digital 

assets in a usable form across time, formats, and 

media.

• Project digital asset management plan — a 

written plan associated with a unit project that 

defines the roles, responsibilities, and processes 

needed to ensure the systematic attention to a 

digital asset throughout its life cycle, from creation 

or collection, through use, preservation and, if 

appropriate, disposition. (Also see “Life-cycle 

management,” above.) The plan addresses aspects 

such as impact and use, creation and receipt of 

data, description of data, access issues, 

preservation for long-term sustainability, and 

ownership. (In an information technology context, 

these plans may also be referred to as data 

management plans.)

• Trusted digital repository (TDR) — a mechanism 

for providing reliable, long-term access to the 

managed digital resources of those who deposit 

their digital assets in the repository. A TDR:

— Consists of hardware, software, human 

resources and administrative structures to 

support the viability of the repository;
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V. Definitions

(continued)

— Must be economically sustainable and have 

practices and policies that ensure the ongoing 

access and management of the deposited digital 

assets;

— May be local, central or distributed in 

infrastructure and management.

• Unit — a Smithsonian museum, research center, or 

office. For the purpose of this directive, a unit 

includes all the employees, volunteers, interns, 

contractors, Fellows, and collaborators associated 

with the unit.

• Unit digitization plan — a written plan that defines 

a unit’s digitization program. The plan addresses

aspects such as unit objectives and priorities for 

digitization, responsible parties for unit-based 

digitization activities, performance metrics and 

digitization funding sources.

VI. Roles and 

Responsibilities

The Secretary is responsible for establishing the 

Institution’s goals to facilitate digitization of Smithsonian 

resources at the highest standards of excellence, for 

scholarly research, and educational purposes. The 

Secretary may delegate to other staff the responsibility 

to implement this policy and carry out the direct 

management of digitization activities.

The Under Secretaries are responsible for ensuring 

that digitization at the Smithsonian is carried out in 

compliance with this policy through oversight of unit 

directors and by approving unit digitization plans. The 

Under Secretaries or their delegates may provide 

overarching digitization goals for their units, reflecting 

Institutional priorities and programs as a basis for unit 

digitization plans and digitization goals.

Unit directors are responsible for ensuring that their 

unit’s digitization activities, including development of 

unit digitization plans (and their associated progress 

reports) and project digital asset management plans, 

are carried out in compliance with this policy, and are 

attainable with available resources. Unit directors are 

the initial approval authority for these plans, and must 
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VI. Roles and 

Responsibilities

(continued)

submit them to the DPO and the Under Secretary who 

oversees their unit. Unit directors may delegate 

authority and assign responsibility for the development 

of these plans to appropriate unit staff.

The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is 

responsible for developing and maintaining the 

information technology infrastructure that supports the 

Institution’s digitization efforts. The OCIO oversees the 

activities of the DPO and consults with the Secretary, 

Under Secretaries, and unit directors about information 

technology needs in support of this policy.

The National Collections Program (NCP) is 

responsible for improving the stewardship and 

management of Smithsonian collections by providing 

central leadership and policy oversight of Institutionwide collections initiatives, including the administration 

and implementation of SD 600, Collections

Management, and the review and approval of collecting 

unit collections management policies. The NCP is 

responsible for coordinating with the DPO collections 

management policies that may affect implementation of 

the requirements set forth in this directive for collections 

that are digital.

The Digitization Program Office (DPO) is responsible 

for improving the overall stewardship and long-term 

management of the Smithsonian’s digital assets by 

providing leadership and policy oversight of the panInstitutional digitization program. Working with 

Smithsonian senior management, and in concert with a 

Digitization Program Advisory Committee (DPAC), the 

DPO guides implementation of the Smithsonian’s 

digitization strategic plan, and develops long-term 

strategies, policy, best practices and procedures that 

address pan-Institutional digitization needs.

The DPO also: advises senior management on effective 

implementation of this directive and recommends 

revisions, as appropriate; assists units in developing 

unit digitization plans and project digital asset 

management plans; recommends unit digitization plans 

for approval by the Under Secretaries; 
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VI. Roles and 

Responsibilities

(continued)

aggregates and reports statistics regarding unit 

digitization activities; and serves as a coordinating unit 

for digitization across the Institution and communicating 

Institutional digitization priorities as appropriate. In 

addition, the DPO keeps abreast of best practices in 

digitization and serves as the Smithsonian’s 

representative to external forums such as interagency 

committees and working groups, and national and

international conferences.

As part of its oversight of this directive, the DPO is 

responsible for developing guidelines for the unit 

digitization and project digital asset management plans 

called for in this directive, and for initiating the call for 

units to submit these plans.

The Digitization Program Advisory Committee

(DPAC), composed of representatives from across the 

Institution, assists the DPO in implementing the 

digitization strategic plan by advising on policies, 

standards, priorities, processes, performance metrics, 

and funding strategies for digitization at the Institution.

VII. Unit Digitization 

Plans

Each unit shall develop a unit digitization plan that 

defines the unit’s digitization program, reflecting a 

balance between unit and Institutional priorities. Each 

unit’s digitization plan will be approved by the unit 

director and submitted to the Under Secretary 

responsible for the unit and to the DPO. The DPO shall 

provide units with guidance on the development of 

these plans.

Units must review and update digitization plans every 

three years. In addition, they submit annual reports to 

the DPO which track progress against their established 

goals, using metrics defined in unit digitization plans.

VIII. Project Digital 

Asset Management 

Plans

All digital assets shall be associated with a unit project. 

For the purpose of this policy, a unit project is defined 

as a concentrated group of digitization or collecting 

activities that take place as part of a larger unit program 

and that exist to support the goals and objectives of 
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VIII. Project Digital 

Asset Management 

Plans (continued)

that program. Unit projects have well-defined scopes 

and can be of varying size and duration. Units 

determine what constitutes a project, and define a 

project’s parameters.

Units shall develop digital asset management plans for 

every unit project that collects or creates digital assets.

These plans must cover the full data life cycle (from 

planning for data creation to accessible archiving, 

preservation, and possible disposition) for each unit 

project that creates or collects digital assets. The DPO 

shall provide units with guidance in developing these 

plans. Project digital asset management plans will be 

approved by the unit director and submitted to the DPO.

Project digital asset management plans shall be 

developed at the beginning of every new project and

shall be updated and revised as a project continues, in 

accordance with the scope and needs of each project. 

Units also shall ensure that their unit digitization plans 

provide yearly goals that identify the number of project 

digital asset management plans they intend to develop 

for their unit’s extant and legacy projects.

New and revised project digital asset management 

plans shall be approved by the unit director and 

submitted to the DPO.

CANCELLATION: None.

INQUIRIES: Office of Digital Transformation (ODT) in the Office of the Deputy Secretary/Chief 

Operating Officer (ODS/COO)

RETENTION: Indefinite. Subject to review for currency 24 months from date of issue