When the students and schools use more than one photographer, and the photographers and the different labs generate distribution data sets in their own formats, it is more difficult, time consuming and costly to coordinate the data, images and publishing of yearbooks. By using a standard format, a greater number of vendor choices would exist for the school and increase the level of satisfaction.

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Similarly, photographers’ policies regarding allowable use of their images may vary, as do methods for communicating licensing terms from the school or student’s photographer to the school and then on to the yearbook company. In some cases, licensing terms and copyright information embedded in image file metadata may be unintentionally stripped upon transfer from one image management platform to another. A common guideline that establishes default copyright and usage rules that apply in the absence of an agreement between the photographer and the yearbook company will provide greater certainty to all affected parties and avoid the need for schools to be the gatekeeper for copyright issues.