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PERMANENT LOANS



Although I would highly discourage permanent loans, there are cases
where they may be your only option.  Some of the most
important collections I have worked with would never have been donated
to a repository without (very reluctantly) giving the donor the option
of a deposit agreement.   Most of the time this was for tax reasons -
the donor had a monetarily valuable collection and did not want to
donate it outright in the hopes that tax laws would change.

When developing a permanent loan agreement, the repository must be very,
very careful to make sure to protect itself.
Agreements should state that the repository will not be held responsible
in the event of theft, fire, flood or other damage.
The agreement should clearly spell out what can be done with the
material - open it to researchers, photocopy it, digitize it, put it on
display, etc. (basically that
the institution can use it like a real donation - the repository will
not simply be a free warehouse for the material).  The agreement should
also state that the person  loaning the material is responsible for
informing the institution of any change of address; the repository has
the right to return the material to the owner; and - THIS IS VERY
IMPORTANT - if the collection is removed from the repository by the
owner, the owner will compensate the repository not only for storage
costs, but the costs of any processing that was done to the collection.
Be sure to include labor and supplies.  I have even seen some agreements
that state that the owner will be responsible for the estimated costs
plus 5%.

When owners get an idea of what it may cost them to remove their
material from the repository 10 years down the road, they may balk at
signing the agreement.  (In my mind, this is good because it may mean
that the owner never intended the material to be on permanent loan
anyway).  I have known some repositories to say, "Fine, you will just
have to repay us for storage, but this means that we will not do
standard preservation and arrangement and description procedures on your
material."  To me this is only a short-term solution to be made when you
think the owner or the owner's heirs will change their mind.  Otherwise
why hold the material if you're not going to do anything with it?  (Some
will argue that if their repository doesn't agree to house it, the
material will get thrown out and lost to history.)

In my 10 years as an archivist, I have known of several collections that
were on deposit/permanent loan that were pulled from repositories by the
owners after much money was spent on the collections.  Never
underestimate the ability of people to change their minds or use their
collections as pawns in a family/political feud!

I have not heard of an "annual loan" before, but I like the idea very
much.  It keeps you in touch with the owner and reminds him/her that
he/she never really did donate the material - along with reminding the
archives staff!

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Susan D'Entremont                           28 Essex Street
Regional Archivist                          Albany, NY  12206
Documentary Heritage Program                Phone: (518) 438-2500
Capital District Library Council            Fax:   (518) 438-2872
www.cdlc.org                                susan@cdlc.org
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