My sentiments -- and our experience -- exactly.  Do they give their
CR-ROMS away for free? Will they produce a CD-ROM for your museum for
free?  Why in the world should you give away *your* product for free?
Supplying your photos to their project costs you money. No, publicity for

your museum is *not* compensation: it doesn't pay for those costs.
Publicity is an extra, a nice by-product of your sale. Nothing is worth
more to a museum budget than payment up front.
--------------------------------------------------------------
name: amalyah keshet
director, visual resources / the israel museum, jerusalem
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
date: 06/19/96
visit our Web site at http://www.imj.org.il
________________________________________________________________

On Tue, 18 Jun 1996 19:47:17 -0400  Melanie Solomon wrote:
>Hear, hear!  I second that emotion!
>
>It is one thing to make the occasional exception for other non-profits
as a
>gesture of good will, but profit-making ventures that whine about paying


a
>fee for use of museum/archive collections don't deserve an ounce of
sympathy.
>
>One important point to note is that you absolutely MUST NOT sign away
>indefinite and/or un-specific rights to use the collection images.
(Many
>museums signed away reproduction rights early in the CD-ROM era, and now


have
>little recourse in recouping lost revenues.)  You should think about
charging
>a royalty fee in addition to your standard publication fee so that you
can
>earn something for every CD sold.  This is important in that it is
extremely
>easy to churn out hundreds of thousands of CDs above and beyond an
initial
>run.
>
>Non-profit does not mean having to play dumb and roll over for everyone
with
>a sob story.  Why is it that we are made to feel guilty about trying to
earn
>our pittance to buy a few Mylar envelopes?  I, for one, have overcome
this
>sorry state and am totally guilt-free.  (Here's hoping the museums
follow
>suit!)
>
>Melanie Solomon
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>Robert MacKimmie wrote:
><<CD-ROM technology may be glitzy, fun technology but it is a
>publishing medium just the same, so similar use fees should apply.
>One thing about the publishing industry is that you will witness
>"song and dance" justifications about why you shouldn't charge use
>fees.
><<
><<When the archive community, at large, responds uniformly in an
>affirmative and rightfully "standing our ground" way, they will cease
>to "pull the wool over." I've heard many wildly spun justifications
>during my years doing photo rights and reproduction.
><<
><<Cheers, and hold the high ground.>>
>