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locked Re: Materials from the SRHA Archives

A&Y Dave in MD
 

I meant the SRHA should NOT try to reinvent the wheel.

Dave

Sunday, May 10, 2020, 11:06:20 PM, you wrote:


 George,

On photos, there are examples:  Bob's Photos charges $8-10 for a B/W 8x10.   He has an extensive collection, but only prints and makes available a set total number at any one time.  Only after sales are made does he print more.

Sounds like a reasonable model.  If someone wants a print that isn't available, then they can put in a request and wait or they can pay the production and mailing cost.

The N&WHS has a whole series of prices for print and digital versions.  There are existing models out there.  SRHA should try to reinvent the wheel.

Dave

Friday, May 8, 2020, 12:42:27 PM, you wrote:


 Matt:

First of all, thank you for your response! As a publisher, you have a solid background in the subject….
My comments below follow yours with ****

On May 8, 2020, at 11:17 AM, Matt Bumgarner <tarheelpress@...> wrote:

Here's my 2 cents worth:

A. Should SRHA simply understand that archives and library material should be free to anyone?
No. I am not a board member, but I would think that other than magazine production, archive expansion and maintenance are SRHA's number one expense.  I WOULD make archive material (drawings, artwork, stencils, etc) free to manufacturers of models and other museums since, ostensibly, they are furthering interest in "our" railroad via ways we do not reach.

******
Matt: Great point! We started providing anything we could to the model manufacturers back with the Model Power E units…and have never stopped. We ALL want to see high quality models be available. (I received a request from one of the top manufacturers about an hour ago.)

B. If so, how are collections to be purchased, housed, etc? (The SRHA archives cash investment over the years is well over $500,000.) Should there be some form of archives membership fee?

I don't think there should be a separate fee. If we need more money to sustain archive growth and maintenance, add it to the annual membership fee.

*******
Matt: That idea has never come up, I’d worry about it keeping some from joining but it’s worthy of discussion.

C. Should archives volunteers be willing to do research upon request? Should there be a cost to the requestor?

I like the model similar to one that the National Archives uses. *IF* a request comes through that is simple and one of the staff or regular volunteers deems easy enough, they can do it free of charge. IF it is beyond the scope of that, refer to the requestor to a list of approved researchers and let those researchers determine their hourly or job fee-- on top of the costs of any any copy request

****
If something is already in the digital files, it’s a lot easier to find and provide. Doing research and locating specific topics is much harder. Even if someone could get to the archives to do their own research, someone has to help them. Then, there is the question if they want to make copies or do scans. Ink for the printers is not cheap, sometimes we ask for a small donation for that….no one has even been upset or said “no”. (The “vibe” when people are in the archives is great….maybe too much time is lost to just visiting but even that is valuable when people can get together.)

We have had local University students work in the archives. They are usually not with us long enough to “figure out” the archives enough to do research for others. A paid archives person, even if one day a week would be great but we’d need a funding source,

D. What should be charged for research or copies?
$15 per hour is entirely reasonable. Paper copies at 25 cents each (50 cents for legal size), $10 per high resolution scan.

***
Good numbers!

E. Should people sign a “Right to Use” agreement. Items would only be for personal, non commercial use and not to be distributed?

Sort of... I would rather just have commercial customers sign a "Right to Use for Commerical Purposes" for photographs only. UNC-CH and Duke charge $25.00 per photo with a $1000 cap. For information/academic/book-author usage, I think information gleaned should be allowed from research. Ain't nobody- author or publisher- getting rich from just information (or really, photos) for that matter. But a charge on photos does prevent the mass "Arcadia" book from diluting the importance of the photo archive.

** We have prepared both “commercial” and “personal" RTUs to accommodate the different requirements. We have never been able to settle on a fair price for photos. All I know is that since the end of “wet paper” photography, $25 per print is too high. The few times it has come up for people doing books, we talk it through and find a good number, sometimes only a credit to SRHA. (As with models, books on the Southern, like yours, are a benefit to all of us.)

F. Should there be a fee for non-SRHA members to visit the archives?
Yes. $100 per session/subject unless academic, peer museum, or manufacturer related, with the stipulation that they cannot merely buy a single year membership prior to their research visit in order save money on the fee.

Just my 2 cents worth--  dollar figures quoted for "stake in the ground" talking points, your mileage may vary, Reasonable people can have reasonable differences.

Matt Bumgarner


Matt…thanks again…..
Ike

On Fri, May 8, 2020 at 9:37 AM George Eichelberger <geichelberger@...> wrote:

 Posted to both the SouthernRailway and SRS.io groups.

I will post a higher resolution version of the horse car scan shortly. The stencil has several really interesting aspects folks may want to discuss.

Before I do, and not because of this request, let me take this opportunity to ask some honest questions that are almost sure to create a “pile” of comments.

I am fully aware that the general thought is that “everything on the Internet is free”. I have seen where people post material with an obvious copyright or fail to ask an owner’s permission before posting something. I get it…. but there is a problem…

Using SRHA as the example:
For the past 25 or 30 years SRHA has been accumulating, storing, buying, paying to move and using volunteer hours there has always been people willing to help with the time, effort and hard cash needed to make those things happen. ALL of that for so many years has been done by people that simply want to preserve the history of the Southern Railway System, most have also been SRHA members.

SRHA does not receive any public financing that requires us to make our materials available to the public. Although NO SRHA membership fees are used for the archives, the logic has always been to make the archives accessible to SRHA members because of their demonstrated interest in the Southern. I doubt any request for a copy of a drawing or photo or permission to scan something has ever been denied to anyone that volunteers at the archives or is serious about writing an article for TIES or another magazine.

So, my question: How should the SRHA archives handle requests for copies of material?

A. Should SRHA simply understand that archives and library material should be free to anyone?

B. If so, how are collections to be purchased, housed, etc? (The SRHA archives cash investment over the years is well over $500,000.) Should there be some form of archives membership fee?

C. Should archives volunteers be willing to do research upon request? Should there be a cost to the requestor?

D. What should be charged for research or copies?

E. Should people sign a “Right to Use” agreement. Items would only be for personal, non commercial use and not to be distributed?

F. Should there be a fee for non-SRHA members to visit the archives?

Ike



--
David Bott

Sent from David Bott's desktop PC


--
David Bott

Sent from David Bott's desktop PC
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