This is beyond copyright of the photos. When I've researched in  
museums, in most cases I sign an agreement that the photos are for  
personal use and I would have to get further permission if I wanted  
to publish them in any way. The museum owns the objects, and we agree  
that they have control over photos of the objects even though I was  
the one taking the photos.

When you say the photos are part of the volunteering, I assume you  
mean you thought she was taking the photos for the museum, and not  
for her own use.

The difficulty here is that you did not address it the first time she  
published an article.

As was mentioned, definitely come up with a photo policy. I know of  
one museum that will not allow publication unless the photo was taken  
by a professional photographer. It would certainly minimize the  
problem of bad photography.

You could show her the new policy and explain that you are bringing  
your practices more "in line" with standard museum practices. There  
are many things you can add to your new policy. You could say the  
museum must review all photos for quality and credit must be given to  
the museum. An example of a museum and photographer credit would be  
useful. I don't know if you can request final review of the article.  
You might also want to contact the other museum about the photo  
policies. Publication editors should read through articles before  
they publish them.

As far as starting the conversation, have a copy of your photo policy  
in writing. Be very patient and make sure you get through everything.  
If she interrupts with defensiveness or apologies, pause and say you  
need to go through the document with her. Take time to answer her  
questions, but don't get emotionally involved yourself. As far as  
having witnesses, you can present the new policy info to other  
employees and volunteers at the same time, so she is not singled out.

-Carol


> On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Candace Perry
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> I have a difficult issue with a complicated volunteer situation.   
>> We have an individual who volunteers here as a cataloger and  
>> researcher. This person also does personal research in our  
>> collections, but there have been times when the personal research  
>> and the volunteer work overlapped. She also volunteers for another  
>> local organization.
>>
>> During her time here she has taken many digital photographs, which  
>> I and my colleague in the archives have permitted, in part  
>> believing (which now is apparently wrong) that this was part of  
>> her volunteering. For awhile now I have been seeing her use images  
>> from our collections which she then attaches the copyright symbol  
>> and her name to, which I understand in theory, but am a bit –  
>> well, frankly annoyed – because she did not discuss this with  
>> anyone here. And I don’t know whether this automatically gives her  
>> free rein to use our images. They aren’t anything all that great –  
>> some of them have actually been pretty bad, image wise.
>>
>> Furthermore, she submitted an article for the journal that is  
>> associated with our organization – not our journal, but with the  
>> church with which we are affiliated – and has put her copyright  
>> info on that also, although it is a church publication. The  
>> article has to be proofread and edited, and there are several  
>> actual typos and some other problems. Her copyright info is also  
>> on the images in the article, not just ours but those of the   
>> other organization she is working with.
>>
>> I becoming increasingly concerned about this, and now I need some  
>> professional help – in more ways than one!  She is a bit of a  
>> difficult sort – I won’t go into that – and I am very reluctant to  
>> start conversations with her as I either get too many apologies or  
>> defensiveness. Neither is fun.
>>
>> Any suggestions? Thanks!

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