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