Does anyone have formal policy or procedure that they can share on the following:
We have visiting scholars who wish to have reference images of items they work with here to support their scholarship. We are not in a position to produce the necessary reproductions quickly or inexpensively. We are thinking about letting them take their own snapshots - digital or otherwise. This would be for their own scholarly activity - not subsequent reproduction.
A few problems: realistically, many of these images in time would end up in unexpected places - probably w/o proper credit.
Further, most of the images will probably be of low quality - we would not want them to be assumed to be OUR photo.
We've also heard that some museums charge a fee (modest) to scholars to allow them to take photographs while visiting? What is the basis of such a practice?
We really do want to let scholars have the reference images they need - any thoughts on how to balance these concerns?
Thanks in advance - feel free to email me directly if you prefer not to respond to the list.
Melissa Smith Levine
Associate Director, Finance & Administration
The Wolfsonian - Florida International University
1001 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
Tel 305-535-2655
Fax 305-531-2133