Margaret Kendrick wrote:

> Does your museum have a fee schedule for loans?

Many/most art museums charge loan fees, probably because art museums often
have active loan programs and processing loans often requires a substantial
investment in staff time.  The loan fees are usually minimal - $75 to $200
per object.  This covers such costs as processing paper work, doing an
inhouse check of the work to assure that it is stable and able to sustain
travel, photography of the work prior to sending it out, doing detailed
condtion reports, or even dusting the frame.  Other expenses are, of
course, paid for by the borrower: packing (proper crates and packing
materials are very expensive); transit - by air or truck; couriers both
ways (here you also have to set your perdiem rate and number of days you
require); sometimes if a borrower wants a loan badly enough they may need
to pay for conservation of the work.  I haven't mentioned insurance - some
museums will accept the policy of others and some require the borrower
reimburse them as they wish to retain their own coverage.

Obviously this pertains to art museums, but other museums would need to
follow much the same procedures when a loan is requested.  If you trade
loans frequently with another institution, then, I suggest you work out
reciprocal agreements with them.


Suzanne Quigley
Head Registrar, Collections and Exhibitions
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10128
212 423 3568
fax: 212 423 3650
email: [log in to unmask]