Following the teams review of the Media Library and how the assets and some features are utilised, we have decided to introduce this governance setting to improve the current workflow and experience for our service users.

What is changing?

The WST will be applying the 'Read Access' governance setting to the CMS Media Library on Monday 29th November 2021.

What does this mean?

CMS users will no longer have read access to all folders within the Media Library structure.  Instead, users will now only have visibility of and access to folders in the Media Library that they been given 'write' access to.  With write access, a user has full control over the management of the assets uploaded into their respective website or section folder within the Media Library. 

Please note: This change will not affect assets that are currently being used in content from folders that users do not have full access to in the Media Library.  However, users will notice they can no longer access the asset source folder when it comes to updating that asset.

What are the benefits?

There are a number of advantages of implementing this setting as follows:

• Cleaner Media Library Structure - For the majority of CMS Users, when this setting is applied, they will see a streamlined Media Library structure which will only show those folders that they have defined write access to.
• Copyright Management - Users will only have the ability to search and use assets in their own folders which will mean increased efficiency in ensuring they do not accidentally use an asset that has copyright limitations attached. 
• The Media Library Search - This aspect of functionality will now only index and provide a search result set based on the folders in the Media Library that a user has defined access to.  This is how the search facility is supposed to work and it is not intended to search for assets across the entire Media Library.
• Asset Management - This puts users in more control of the assets used within their websites.  We are finding with more frequency that users are losing assets used on their websites because they have used certain resources from other folders / areas in the Media Library.  When a source asset is deleted, all instances of usage across the CMS is also deleted.  This encourages users to keep website specific assets within designated website folders.

How should the Media Library be used?

The Media Library should not be considered as an asset repository or resource for finding and using assets in websites.  It should be used to hold assets in specific folders relating to specific websites. These assets should be obtained from reputable sources and users must have consent to use these resources in the building of their website(s).

Media Library assets should be managed in the same way as any other piece of content in the CMS.  The assets should be reviewed periodically as part of a website and content lifecycle, and if the assets are no longer required, they should be removed from the CMS.

What if I have any questions or require support?

If you have any questions about what this change means, please visit the IT Helpdesk and do the following:

• Log in with your staff AD credentials (Staff number and password)
• Click on New Call in the main menu
• Under the 'Call Type' dropdown select Services
• Under the 'Category' dropdown select CMS
• And from the loaded dropdown select General Support