We've tried out the Rijksmuseum site and found that the free image for personal use comes through as a compressed JPG of about 1 Mb or less, though it could be that some works have larger master images -- hard to tell. Any scholarly or commercial use just bounces you to their normal image services request page.
All of our images are available for download at a modest side (1536 pixels on the long side) if they're in the public domain, licensed, or 3D (CC-BY license for the latter). Also done quietly, as others have noted. Deb Wythe Brooklyn Museum deborahwythe at hotmail.com deborahwythe at hotmail.com > From: cathryng at Princeton.EDU > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Date: Wed, 29 May 2013 12:58:44 +0000 > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Permissions > > An addendum to this thread is the fact that many institutions, Princeton > among them, are more quietly adopting an open access to public domain images > policy - I'd be interested in a show of hands. > > Cathryn > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of > David Green > Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 8:48 AM > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Permissions > > Absolutely agree, of course. And see today's NYT article about the > Rijksmuseum's contribution to the way forward: > http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/arts/design/museums-mull-public-use-of-online-art-images.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130529&_r=0 > > "We're a public institution, and so the art and objects we have are, in a > way, everyone's property," said [Taco Dibbits, the director of collections at > the Rijksmuseum,] in an interview. "'With the Internet, it's so difficult to > control your copyright or use of images that we decided we'd rather people > use a very good high-resolution image of the 'Milkmaid' from the Rijksmuseum > rather than using a very bad reproduction," he said, referring to that > Vermeer painting from around 1660." > > David Green > redgen at mac.com > @redgen > 203-520-9155 > > > On May 27, 2013, at 8:46 AM, Kenneth Hamma <khamma at me.com> wrote: > > > Thanks, Peter. > > > > It is dismaying that anyone could not imagine that there's any way around > > the wide variety of charges and procedures that collections - perhaps > > sometimes thoughtlessly? - interpose between themselves the public for whom > > they are stewards. For those, here are some starting points. > > > > https://images.nga.gov/en/page/show_home_page.html > > > > http://britishart.yale.edu/collections/using-collections/image-use > > > > http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_this_site/terms_of_use/free_image_s > > ervice.aspx > > > > https://www.lacma.org/about/contact-us/terms-use > > > > http://thewalters.org/rights-reproductions.aspx > > > > Knowing that it can be bothersome to visit websites and read, let me copy > > the simple image rights/use statement from the Walters Art Museum: > > > > All photography on our website(s) is governed by Creative Commons Licensing > > and can be used without cost or specific permission. Artworks in the > > photographs are in the public domain due to age. The photographs of > > two-dimensional objects have also been released into the public domain. > > Photographs of three-dimensional objects and all descriptions have been > > released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported > > License and the GNU Free Documentation License. > > > > Cheers, > > > > ken > > > > Kenneth Hamma > > > > Yale Center for British Art > > kenneth.hamma at yale.edu > > > > > > > > On May 27, 2013, at 7:05 AM, Peter B. Hirtle <pbh6 at cornell.edu> wrote: > > > >> For a different perspective from a different field, MCN-L readers might be > >> interested in a forthcoming paper from John Overholt addressing the future > >> of special collections in libraries. It is called "Five theses on the > >> future of special collections," and a preprint is found at > >> http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10601790/overholt.pdf. > >> > >> One of his five theses speaks precisely to the issue of permissions. It > >> begins this way: > >> > >> The future of special collections is openness. > >> > >> We are not the creators of our collections; we are their stewards. They > >> were entrusted to us to preserve them, certainly, but preservation without > >> use is an empty victory. It ought to be our primary purpose at all times > >> to minimize barriers to use, so it is all the more shameful when we > >> interpose such barriers ourselves, not out of concern for the health of > >> the collections, but out of the misguided belief that we are entitled to > >> control, even to monetize, their use. When we claim copyright over our > >> digital collections, or impose permission fees or licensing terms on > >> users, we are arguably misrepresenting the law, and certainly violating > >> one of the central ethical tenets of the profession: to promote the free > >> dissemination of information. > >> > >> It would seem to me that image permissions would be much simplified if > >> only permission of the copyright owner had to be secured (and then only if > >> the use was not a fair use). > >> > >> Peter Hirtle > >> > >>> -----Original Message----- > >>> From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On > >>> Behalf > >>> Of Deborah Wythe > >>> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 3:59 PM > >>> To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >>> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Permissions > >>> > >>> 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/ > >>> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> 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/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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/ > > _______________________________________________ > 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/
