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Re: A Little Too Generous?



    I agree with Steven Fisher that we can make this situation work to our
advantage, and I have proposed to this scholar that we work with her on her
project and that we make a limited number of documents available. My inclination
is not to just say "no, it's mine." But as I said, this situation has not been
resolved with the powers above, and their inclination may be to avoid controversy
by giving this person all that she wants. I am trying to work out a middle ground.
And is this situation any different from someone wanting to take 10,000 copies of
your very best material and place it another archives? Should we allow that, or
should the institution that put forth the effort and expense of collecting and
preserving this material enjoy some benefit from that effort? Are we serving our
researchers well by taking chunks of collections out of their context and away
from the archivists who know those collections best?
    I also have to work within the reality of bureaucrats and budgets. If I allow
people to come in and take away the highest profile parts of our collection then
am I being responsible to those researchers who want things other than civil
rights material? If my budget is cut (not an unreasonable fear) because my use
goes down, or because the famous filmmakers and television news people and the
Pulitzer Prize winning authors stop coming to research civil rights, can I still
serve all the other scholars who are researching architecture or women's history
or local artists or local writers or local religious history? What about the local
citizen who is trying to trace a chain of title but cannot afford to hire lawyers
and title companies to help them? We are here to help them, in part, because other
parts of our collection give us some level of prominence.
    Am I missing something here? I agree that the granting agency may have screwed
up, but is that really the central issue?

"STEVEN P. FISHER" wrote:

>  Wow. This is a good one, but as you point out it is something that we are
> likely to see more and more of. The expression "if you get lemons make
> lemonade" comes to mind. The trick is to turn this to your advantage.
> What are the PR possibilities for your collection? It seems to me that a
> just say no attitude will not serve us well. It will just generate
> negative feelings from the researcher and anyone who will listen to them
> ( like your superiors? ).
>
>  It seems to me the key is to control the situation from the start. You
> decide what does and does not get digitized. You control the work flow.
> Acknowledgement is another key factor. You want more than "images courtesy
> of ..." How about a short blurb about your holdings, or  perhaps a link to
> your own website?
>
>  I agree with the observation that it was very strange of a funding agency
> to not insist on evidence of participation from the archival institutions
> ...
>
>  Steve Fisher
>  University of Denver
>
>
> > Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
> >      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
> >
> > Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
> >
>
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>
> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
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