I don't think there's any way around the wide variety of charges and procedures, but I was struck by the frustration of the writer, who clearly had never done image acquisition before. It's a skill, just like any other. Filling in for our R&R coordinator, I've learned just how many emails it can take to get all the information we need to help them.
I've often wondered if there was a way to connect museum staff with art history grad programs to get this topic on their curriculum. Shouldn't every budding writer have a brief tutorial on copyright, image acquisition, image quality, etc? Then again, when I was in grad school and suggested to my advisor that we put together a guide to doing primary source research, he put me off, saying that we should all be figuring it out ourselves and that was one way they sorted the wheat from the chaff. I won't address the differing policies and prices -- that's a different (and difficult topic) -- but putting chocolate on our fee schedules is an interesting concept. Deborah Wythe Brooklyn Museumdeborahwythe at hotmail.com > From: lesleyeharris at comcast.net > Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 12:06:38 -0400 > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Permissions > > Whoops--article is at > http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/opinion/opinion-snap-decisions/2003969.article. > > > On May 24, 2013, at 12:05 PM, Lesley Ellen Harris <lesleyeharris at > comcast.net> wrote: > > This article on obtaining permissions from museums will be of interest to MCN > members. > > Lesley > > lesley at copyrightlaws.com > www.copyrightlaws.com > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/