About those user fees for getting prints or pictures from museums.
When I was working as a director in a museum I had the same thoughts: if
somebody wants our services, let them pay, we can use it, we are a poor
museum. We deserve it, because we keep the objects (sometimes in good shape
for more than ten years) and provide the pictures. For somebody, who always
worked in museums, the sums private entrepreneurs get for their (e.g.
gardening) work, seems horribly high.
But, and there is of course a big BUT: But if you are working not in a
museum, if you are working on a day to day basis, trying to sell your
services without getting your monthly pay for sure, then things seem
different. Namely, if museums people would also get their pay only per task
done efficiently and according to some client, their view on their tasks
would change dramatically.
Or put it that way: The tax payers pay for (non-profit) museums, they pay
for the task to keep the object, but also to show them and to bring them to
public use. If somebody wants to get a simple picture - for his share of
tax - or for the other tax payers, why should he pay again the full amount
of costs for keeping and preserving the object, for making a picture etc.?
It seems a too simple answer, to say: we in the museum do our job, so
everybody who wants something, has to pay for it.
Maybe, somebody should put the two (or more) sides of the question together
and share it with us. Its a problem or a question, which seems to run deep
into the relationship of society, economy and cultural duties. I am sure the
answer cannot be found alone in the museum community.
Thanks for reading,
Peter, the Rebernik

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 | PHAROS International - Bureau for Cultural Projects
 | Peter Rebernik, Dipl.-Ing.
 | Anton Baumgartnerstr. 44/C2/3/2; A-1230 Wien / AUSTRIA
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-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Amalyah Keshet <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
An: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Datum: Dienstag, 12. Mai 1998 12:07
Betreff: Re: User Fees?, Natural History


>A few suggestions:
>
>1.  Price out how much it will cost you in terms of man-hours and materials
>to accomodate the client.  If that looks like a too-modest sum, double it
>or triple it: this will be the client's contribution to your institution
>towards the cost of accomodting those non-profit entities who receive your
>services free.
>
>2.  Find out what local professional consulting rates are in a somewhat
>analogous field. Charge that, per hour.  (Sometimes it's startling to
>realize what a trainer or astrologer or garden designer gets...basically
>for what museum people give away free: professional consulting services.)
>
>3.  Enquire at your university if any other departments "sell" access or
>consulting services (facilities rental? career counseling?  special
>events?)  You may have a precedent right next door in one of the science
>departments:  find out how much your or another lab paid to an outside
>source the last time they needed to buy professional services.
>
>4.  Take into consideration the cost of acquiring and preserving the
>objects to which you will be providing access, and the cost of compiling
>the information on the objects, to which you will also be providing access.
> That is, don't forget that your "product" is very expensive.
>
>Hope this helps. Opinions mine, not neccessarily that of my employer, etc.
>
>
>
>
>At 08:59 11/05/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>Most usage of our natural history collections is by nonprofit entities,
but
>>we've had a recent request for access to our comparative collections (to
be
>>used for identification of archaeological bone) by a for-profit outfit.
>We are
>>required to charge a reasonable fee for usage of the collections by
>commercial
>>organizations, but have had no recent experience in determining what is a
>>reasonable charge.  I would appreciate any information about fee levels
>charged
>>for similar services by nonprofit organizations.
>>
>>Art Harris
>>--
>>Laboratory for Environmental Biology,
>>Centennial Museum of Natural & Cultural History
>>University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968-0519
>>Phone (915) 747-6985, 747-6835 Fax (915) 747-5808 e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>>
>amalyah keshet
>head of visual resources
>(photographic services / rights & reproductions)
>the israel museum, jerusalem
>[log in to unmask]
>fax: +972-2-670-8064
>visit our web page: www.imj.org.il
>