[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Defending scanning fees



Lisa:

   After looking at the fees posted on your web site I would say they are
not only nominal, but extremely generous. Since this fellow making all the
noise is so committed to the free flow of information I assume he teaches
for free, earning his living my mowing lawns or sacking groceries on the
weekend.
   First off, are you charging a fee for "information" or are you charging a
fee for a copy of a document or photograph? I assume that anyone can come
into the archives, examine this material free of charge, make notes,
meditate over it, and otherwise extract whatever "information"
they require. Your fee comes in when that person asks you to take time and
expend resources to provide them with a "copy" of the original item. Does
the library charge people to photocopy pages from books? Why? And how is
your fee any different, except that your service requires a greater
investment in staff time, training, and expertise?
   I think the information provided over the past few days by other members
of this list will strengthen your case. Your fees are far below the norm,
and it is clear that charging fees is standard procedure in many, if not
most, facilities.
   Have you calculated what it cost in staff time to provide this service?
Say you scan one photo image onto a CD, how much time is involoved in
purchasing the CD, taking the order from the researcher, scanning the image,
loading the image onto the CD, and mailing or other wise delivering the CD
to the person? Do you pay postage? Do you save the image, and if so do you
index it? How long does that take? How much did the equipment cost that you
use to provide this service? Do you pay a monthly fee for a service
agreement on the equipment? I think you could easily show that your fees do
not come close to covering the cost of providing the service. And what is
wrong with asking the people who use the service to help pay for it?
   Having a nominal fee also discourages unreasonable requests--"Just scan
it all and send it to me." If you offer free scanning your staff could
quickly be overwhelmed by the volume of requests. Don't you have other
things to do with your day, such as helping rsearchers, processing
collections, negoiating with donors, filing, attending meetings? How will
you perform your other duties if you spend all day bent over a scanner?
   If you begin filling large numbers of scanning requests will you save all
these images? Can your system accomodate this? How will you index the
images? Do you have the software to index, or will it have to be purchased?
What will that cost? And if you do not save the images, what are the long
term preservation concerns related to repeated scanning?
   Unless you think your superiors will reactly negatively, you might
suggest raising your fees, explaining that in response to Professor
Smarty-Pants' complaint you have investigated the issue and find that you
are charging far too little for this service. If nothing else this could
give a good position from which to bargain.
  Good luck.

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

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>