Rebecca, One comment I would make as a library director would be - how much is it costing your institution to digitize these items? If you are transporting them, then the museum is paying your salary, time, mileage etc. So, the "profit" may be minimal or even a negative amount. This may change your director's viewpoint or at least give a realistic picture of these digital "donations." We have some digital copies within our collection that others have donated while keeping the originals - so this is not unheard of. That being said, as Valarie mentioned, the potential is great and having an agreement to donate in the future would be a great addition to your collection. Ray Arnett Fremont Area District Library On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 2:32 PM, Valarie J. Kinkade < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Rebecca: Agree strongly with your Director that you need some kind of > agreement with this volunteer. I understand that this activity may be a > pain, however, if I look at it from the patron side of things and there is > demand for this information (all legal/copyright issues being dealt with) > then it seems like your are serving your public. As a Curator, I often > find private collections in repositories that have been digitized to meet > the research needs of patrons. It sounds like this collection complements > and supports what you already have. I am sure this can be used as an > argument to have your volunteer sign a document indicating you can at least > use the digital images to benefit your institution, and perhaps even get > him to sign a promissory deed of gift. > > Best of Luck, > > Valarie Kinkade > Principal > Museum & Collector Resource, LLC > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Rebecca Howe <[log in to unmask]> > To: MUSEUM-L <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Wed, Apr 5, 2017 2:04 pm > Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Should a Museum/Library Digitize a Personal Collection? > > Dear Listers, > > I have an ethical question for the group. At my museum/library, we have > an extensive map and drawing collection which patrons often ask to have > reproduced. For our collections, we follow our due-diligence regarding > copyright law and so forth, so please be advised that this question is not > about that. > > One of our volunteers has a private collection of maps and drawings which > he has offered to have us scan or copy for patrons when his collection > contains an item that we do not have. He has said that he is happy to have > our library make a profit on his scans, for nothing in return, and we also > then get a digitized copy for our collection. He says he intends for our > museum to inherit his physical drawing and map collection when he dies, but > for now he only allows us a scan of his items. To add complication to the > whole situation, there is a corporation that holds copyright to maps and > drawings in his collection, to which he has never held himself accountable… > However, if we get a patron who wants a copy from his collection that falls > under that copyright, we request permission from the corporation every time. > > Maybe I am over-thinking this situation, but beyond the fact that it is > burdensome, does this arrangement seem unethical? It doesn’t sit well with > me in that we are copying materials that don’t belong to us and then taking > a profit, even though we are following our copyright due-diligence. Also, > we don’t have a substantial digital storage system to support a large > digitized collection down the road, although we have only copied about 5 of > this volunteer's things to date. > > It seems weird to me to digitize collection items that don’t belong to us, > when we don’t even have our own collections digitized. Moreover, I feel a > personal burden as I cart the maps/drawings to the an off-site location to > get scanned, since we don’t have the capability to scan them on-site. For > whatever reason, our volunteer does not want to take the drawings to the > off-site location himself. So, additionally there is a selfish part of me > that feels put upon because I am ferrying a personal collection to and from > the scan location. This volunteer has quite a following in the community, > and word is spreading fast that he is reproducing his drawings through our > library, so I am concerned that if we don’t nip this in the bud, we will > quickly be ferrying maps and drawings to be copied on a weekly basis > through this volunteer, when we have our own library to run. > > I am leaning towards stopping this altogether, but I worry that doing so > may hinder our relationship with a volunteer who does a lot of good work > for us and who may donate his estate to us in the future... But I also have > some apprehension about the ethics and legality of all of it. > > What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone out there encountered anything > close to this? Is this ethical? My director has said perhaps we just need > to write up an agreement stating that our volunteer is ok with this > situation and expects nothing in return. > > Lastly, if you have any legal sources about this situation, I would > appreciate your sharing them. I have* A Legal Primer *by Malaro and > DeAngeles, *Library's Legal Answer Book* by Minow/Lipinski, *A Museum > Guide to Copyright & Trademark *by AAM, and *Navigating Legal Issues in > Archives* by Bernhardt-Klodt, but none of these titles address this > particular issue. > > Thank you in advance for your assistance. > > Rebecca > > > ------------------------------ > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 > ========================================================= 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] . 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