Charging for copies and scans

Up to this point all the copying and scanning we have done for researchers has been free.  It was decided that we needed to get some return for our time and supplies.

I checked with all of my “buddies” on the SAA Lone Arrangers list to see how others handle it.  The responses varied widely from no charge, to $20/hr research fees.  There seemed to be a lot around the $0.25/page level.  The one I wanted just asked for a donation and gave contact information on how to send the money.

After a discussion this is what we ended up with:

There is a minimum charge of $5 per request.  This includes up to 20 black and white copies or scans of standard size.

Make checks payable to:
Warren Hunting Smith Library Associates
Hobart & William Smith Colleges
334 Pulteney St.
Geneva, NY 14456

I wanted to go with the donation because then I wouldn’t have to track anything.  I worked out a procedure with our secretary that when I send the “Policy” to someone I will cc: her.  She will notify me when she receives a check and I will send the materials.

I have a feeling this is going to cut down on the number of requests we receive.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

Why doesn’t SAA want me to vote?

Check out ArchivesNext for a discussion of SAA voting policy.  You have to attend the conference to vote.  I can’t afford to go to every conference, can you?

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Tags: SAA

Great time at SAA

I’m just back from SAA in Chicago. Things were learned, fun was had, food was eaten.

I’ll be filling you in on some ideas I picked up, but for now
I just want to share one fun experience.  While waiting in
line for food at the exhibits I was approached by Betsy
Parkin Pittman, the University Archivist of the
U of Connecticut.  She introduced herself as William Smith
1982,thanked me for the Archives webpage and shook my
hand.  She also said when she gives to the college she always
desingnates the money to come to archives.  I’m going to
have to track down that money. :-)

SAA2007

Thanks to Spellbound I just learned about the SAA2007 Wiki.  I’m all signed up.  It may be a way to make even better connections with people.  I’m hoping I will be able to blog about the sessions I attend.

I’ve had a couple of people recommend the Architecture Boat Tour.  I’m hoping to go Saturday afternoon at 3:15, after the conference is finished.  Anyone want to join me?

Preservation Options of PDF

I was able to attend this SAA webcast by Geof Huth yesterday and was very impress with it, both for the information I gained and for the format. Geof Huth was in Wisconsin and I was with 13 others at RRLC in Rochester, NY. We didn’t see Geof, but we heard him through the speaker phone and he manipulated the power point presentation. He answered questions from all over the country. What a great way to have a “national” workshop without the travel time and expenses!

I had learned back at the beginning of the academic year about being able to append to a PDF. Since then I have been collecting all the e-mail from the Faculty list, since memos are not sent any more. Yesterday we learned about PDF/A format, which is the ISO standard for archival PDF. This format embeds the fonts so if they change in the future, what you have looks as it did when it was produced. Geof covered the standard, advantages, disadvantages, software, but I won’t try to go into the whole presentation here.

So today I’m try to put into practice what I learned. Geof talked about Adobe Acrobat 8.0, and it turns out I have 7.0. I was able to figure out where to change the settings to PDF/A-1b (the minimum standard). Now I have to figure out how to change the stuff I’ve already saved to the standard. It’s not obvious to me yet. Any suggestions?

SAA Workshop on Archival prespectives on digititization

(Originally posted May 2, 2006)

The SAA workshop was very good, though very theoretical. I did come home with a few tips I can put into action.

* Bookkeeper to deacidify paper
* Use MARC tag 530 for information on the digitized images in the
record of the actual item.
* Types of open source depository software and what they are best
for. (all much too big and complicated for lone arranger, me)

More to come. I haven’t had time to process what I’ve learned yet and
I’m off to SE Arizonia on vacation until May 15th. I’ll get back to you
with more.

The organzation of the workshop was done by Sue Hamburger (sic) and it
was great. She made reservations and arrangements ahead for out of town
people who might want to have dinner together, and provided outstanding
snacks, including ice cream from the Penn State Creamery.