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Re: Fees



I get the list in digest so I am responding to this posting in mid-
discussion.

I work at a small county historical society. We had a daily user fee when I
first started here. It was $5.00 a day for non-members. It was free for
historical society members and some other groups where the group (at one
stage) paid an annual fee (e.g., local university history departments,
genealogical society and other museums).

I disliked this fee as I felt it was a barrier to access. I also greatly
disliked charging people for using our collections when people usually have
an attitude that "libraries" (which in most people's minds is what an
archive is) are free. Also, if someone was coming in to do research and all
we were doing were pulling a few files out it didn't seem fair. Especially
when someone else might phone or mail in a complicated request and get
charged the same use fee. So, a few months after I started here we dropped
the daily use fee.

However, in some kind of recompense we greatly upped the photocoyping
charges. We probably have some of the highest photocopying charges around.
50 cents for letter or legal size and 75 cents for tabloid size. We have a
large collection of newspaper clippings (and these are our most used
collections) so it is common for there to be many tabloid sized sheets of
photocopies. We try to fit as many clippings per page as possible. We do
all the copying. If it takes over an hour to photocopy we charge $15.00 per
hour, in 15 minute increments. That only happens a few times a year.
Members' photocopies are much less, 30 cents regardless of size. They too
get a photocopy time charge if over an hour but that happens extremely
rarely. (Members are not major users of the library/archives center.)

In addition we also have search fees for non-members where we carry out the
search, usually for family type information in our government records,
newspaper clippings and so on. These fees include up to 3 photocopies
before copying charges and up to 10 pages mailed without a postage charge.
The fees are probably too low for the amount of time put in on them but it
keeps people happy and often coming back for more.

We have a separate hourly research fee (different for members and non-
members) but I rarely apply that. It is only for involved research projects
and we don't get many of them. If you are really interested in our fees
check out our website at <<www.omahahistory.org>> It is a complicated
structure and the rest of the staff here don't really like but it works for
me.

On another note, I don't charge for one photocopy when people are here
researching. It isn't worth my time to enter 50 or 75 cents, plus tax. I
generally go by, if it is under a dollar I don't charge (so members can
often get up to 3 free photocopies at a time). But there is no official
policy.

The idea that an archives can be a money-maker or self-sustaining is one
that our board has too. I am doubtful that it can ever happen. I would love
to proven wrong on this. I have tried to set our fees at a level that seems
fair. It is in part based on what the market will bear. Of course you can't
please everyone, someone will always complain about your fees. But also, I
want people to come back and to tell their friends and associates to come
to us so I try to keep them happy with our service and a sense of value for
money.

By the way, our income level did not drop when we dropped the daily use
fee. And I know that it kept some local genealogists away. It has taken a
few years now to get the message out that we don't have a daily use fee
anymore but people know now and our number of visits has been going up in
the past few years.

Sincerely,

Deirdre Routt
Librarian/Archivist
Douglas County Historical Society
Library/Archives Center
5730 N 30 St #11B
Omaha NE 68111
(402) 451-1013

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