Hello
Melissa:
A few
thoughts on your questions...
My
understanding is that the researchers would normally own copyright to
the images they take, so it is important for the museum to have a written
agreement (a legally-binding contract) with researchers
that formally asserts the institution's interests. Such an
agreement with researchers might state that the images
--may only be used for reference or showing to
students;
--may not be published or posted on the web without
written permission (research photos are often not of sufficient
quality);
--photos must be marked or labeled "For Reference
Only--Do Not Duplicate--Not for Publication";
--many researchers voluntarily agree to sign
copyright of their images to the museum, and in this case you should have
a
copyright form for them to
sign, and ask for the images to be labeled with the copyright info
.
The
museum might have a hard time denying the publication--or charging
a publication fee--for a "research" photo if the researcher possesses
the image and owns copyright. The museum may legally have little control of
images of collections items if someone else owns copyright. The museum can more
easily limit conditions on the care of collections during photography, and one
of the basic standards is to use existing images whenever possible (to
eliminate risk and wear and tear on the collection). We have a large
collection of publication quality images for which we also own copyright. If new
images are necessary, we don't let just anyone come in with all their equipment
and start shooting. We try to use staff members whenever possible--people who
are used to working with museum objects to minimize the risk
(also, copyright stays with the museum). If the museum hires a
non-staff photographer on contract, the resulting photographs may not fall under
the museum's copyright under "work for hire". This must be spelled out in the
contract.
Fees
for research photography are to be avoided, in my opinion. I would be
embarrassed to charge a researcher for an activity that often benefits the
museum. Most researchers share new information about the collection,
and are going to use the photos they take to further knowledge and disseminate
information. Some museums have asked researchers to provide copy
prints or slides of every image they take, which could amount to a
fairly large cost to the researcher. Most researchers I work with
are on very tight budgets.
Steve
Henrikson
Curator of Collections
Alaska
State Museum
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
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