Hi Candace,

     I'm not a lawyer, and I'm glad you are consulting your attorney.  You may
want to consult a specific copyright attorney.

     From what I understand, the issue is not copyright, it's the rights of
ownership.  The diaries belong to the museum, and the museum may do what they
see fit with them.  You do not owe anyone access.

     When I research historic objects, I am often allowed to photograph them.
Usually I sign an agreement form - my photographs are for educational purposes,
but I must ask for additional permission if I want to publish images of the
museum's property.  I can use the images as slides in a lecture, but I may not
use them to illustrate an article without the specific permission.  Online
articles and web pages count as publishing.

     Good luck with the PR side of it!  I think you have a good case against
allowing access.

     -Carol


Candace Perry <[log in to unmask]> said:

> A family researcher want to publish a set of diaries that my instituion
> owns.  He intends on paying for the publication and then would give us 30%
> of the proceeds, supposedly.  At first he had this very extensive
> proposition regarding the sales and marketing of these diaries, which have
> an extremely limited audience...at best. We decided that we preferred not to
> be involved with him -- the whole idea seemed far fetched -- I won't launch
> into the details here, but just keep in mind that the material in question
> is really minor, in the scheme of things, and he was making a great deal out
> it.
> Anyway, today we received a rather tersely worded email from this man
> claiming that the material is in the public domain (it is) and we can't use
> copyright issues to deny him (we weren't, as far as I know).  We are a
> private institution and it's my belief that if we don't want to give this
> man access and allow him to photograph the diaries for publication, we don't
> have to.  I hope this doesn't come across as sounding petty, and we could
> possibly benefit in the long run (doubtful as to how much, really, given the
> nature of the material)...but it just seems like we could be opening up a
> can of worms with this guy.
> We don't want to do anything that will result in bad PR.  It just seems like
> he feels he is entitled to this access, or something like that.  We will be
> passing along his recent email to our attorney, but we may just have to
> relent. I'm now thinking about asking for a sum up front for the privilege.
> We most likely will never publish them ourselves, however, they have been
> microfilmed to provide easier access. It's just, well, the principle of the
> thing!
> Thanks for any input,
> Candace Perry
> Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center

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