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 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).