This is an interesting perspective.  Discouraging the public from seeking
access to historical information?  It kind of violates most museum's and
library's mission statements regarding interpretation and/or public access.
Besides, it is very possible to provide access and still protect the
photographic artifact.  With today's technologies there is no reason for the
original photograph to ever be in harm's way.  We have  two ways in which we
provide copies of photos to researchers.  One is to have a copy negative
made from the photograph then have the copy made from it for the researcher.
The researcher pays for the copy negative and the copy of the photo.  We
keep the copy negative and provide the copy to the researcher.  That way we
don't need to use the original again for making copies.  The second way is
that we are now digitizing our photo collection so we can provide a photo
quality copy from an inkjet printer and eliminate the use of a photo lab
altogether.  We provide either paper copies or a digital copy on a CD (or
even via an email attachment).  We also eliminate most handling of the photo
by having it viewable on the computer.

I have had no researchers (whether a member of public doing family research
or an author) balk at paying a reproduction fee.  The real issue is the use
fees that are tacked on top of that.  With the comparatively high use fees
being asked by some institutions, it has become prohibitive for some
authors.  In several cases I have had authors come to my museum rather than
other museums or libraries because we keep our use fees reasonable.  The
good PR, as well as meeting our interpretive mission, is worth it.

Steve Friesen, Director
Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave
987 1/2 Lookout Mountain Rd.
Golden, CO 80401
303-526-0744

-----Original Message-----
From: Kimberly Kenney [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 8:32 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Schedule of fees


I think that one of the reasons we charge a fee for
reproducing images IS to discourage people from doing
it.  We are in the business of preserving and
protecting historical treasures, and repeatedly
copying an original photograph is harmful to it.  We
wouldn't keep loaning out an artifact that was
fragile/priceless/one-of-a-kind, if it was being
damaged from repeated exhibition, would we?  Besides
the amount of staff time it takes to fulfill these
requests -- which really is a lot -- fees are also
designed to weed out those who don't truly need a
reproduction of an image.

Kim Kenney

=====
**********************************
Kimberly A. Kenney
Curator
McKinley Museum
800 McKinley Monument Dr. NW
Canton OH  44708
330-455-7043

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