It would be well and good if museums and libraries did indeed charge fees
that are appropriate. But many charge use fees on top of reproduction fees.
We have paid anywhere from $50 to $125 per photo in use fees for photos from
other institutions for exhibits we have done. So much for museum courtesy.
We recently had an author approach us because another institution was asking
$100 per photo and he needed three photos for a book he was writing. We
provided them to him for $100 and he though he got a bargain. He did, many
of the larger research facilities are trying to turn fulfilling photo
requests into a moneymaking operation. We have a sliding scale of use fees
for commercial use that start at $50 but when someone asks for a quantity of
photos we work with them. And we usually provide photos to the news media
at no charge at all (we sometimes waive the reproduction fee as well).
I think that fulfilling photo requests can be very good PR for an
institution. Our Museum's visibility has been helped by the various photos
that we provide to everyone from authors to the news media. I frequently
hear from members of the press that museums are difficult to work with,
particularly when it comes to getting photographs. I can assure you that we
have worked very hard not to be difficult to work with; in just the past
year we have had images in everything from national travel magazines to
inflight magazines. Our 65,000 a year visitation is due, at least in part,
to just this kind of effort.
One more thought, I realize one needs to be realistic about earned income
but let's not forget our mission statements while we are at it. Don't we
have some obligation to aiding the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge?
Steve Friesen, Director
Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave
987 1/2 Lookout Mountain Rd.
Golden, CO 80401
-----Original Message-----
From: jmarks [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 8:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Schedule of fees
Good morning,
Our reproduction fees are $5 per image for scanning - to a disk, by
email, or to a print. If someone wishes to have a photographic copy
made, we can't do that in-house - we choose the vendor, and charge a $5
fee above cost to cover our time (we transport the images back and
forth, we don't let the customer take them). And "we" are a small
historical society in rural western NY with a small staff, if that helps
with context.
We've had several messages about fees that were too high and discouraged
use. Can you supply numbers and circumstances - how high was "too high"
and what were the images? Dollar amounts and details would help those
writing or revising photo fees. I've been struggling with use fees and
haven't come to a definitive conclusion. I do believe museums and
repositories need to charge "appropriate" fees for use and publication.
In these days of easy graphic reproduction (or piracy, depending how
you feel), we don't know what will happen to our photographs once
someone gets them. It would be great if we received a small fee from
everyone who used a collections image on a web site, postcard, T-shirt,
coffee mug, book, advertisement, etc. It would be fair to everyone and
would support the institutions caring for the photographs. But this
usually isn't the case, and museums/ libraries feel the need to collect
larger fees upfront.
I also wonder if users are chafing at the idea of being charged for
photos at all. Does the public expect that everything will be preserved
forever and made totally accessible for free? The easy answer is
"there's no such thing as a free lunch"; the realistic answer is that
users need to be educated about why we charge use fees and museums/
libraries need set fees that are appropriate, not punitive. Feedback
anyone?
John
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