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Hi all, Not sure if you are familiar with our Income Generation Guidance so here is a link to it: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/archives/Income_Generation_Guide_February_2016.pdf Some of the issues discussed here are covered by the guidance, including how to model realistic costs and how to balance the needs of user access and income generation. There are some excellent case studies and useful information so do have a read. Best wishes. Leah Chapman Leah Chapman Communication and Development Manager Archives Sector Development The National Archives, Kew, Surrey TW9 4DU, 0208 3925270. [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pamela Birch Sent: 09 November 2016 09:09 To: JISCMAIL Archives Subject: Re. Charging Customers for Use of own cameras Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure Sue's statement 'there is very little public education about how archives work, and it takes most users years to figure out the basics' is sadly true. In the hope that putting in my two pennies worth Sue will feel better informed here goes. It is not necessarily the fault of the archives we do try but our small voice gets lost amongst the other information out there - the TV adverts telling people how easy it is to do their family history at the click of a button, the media who don't show how they got from a-b and, not least, the school, university and online courses that make no attempt to explain how to find and use primary sources. In case you think the latter is a sweeping statement keep in mind that I offer work experience to university students at least three times a year and only two universities in the last 20 years have got good marks from me for including anything about archives and how to use them on their history degree courses. I also did a free online genealogy course earlier this year to see how they tackled the subject and was appalled by the content that was being put out under a university's name. One of the basic misunderstandings is that archives are like a chain of pizza restaurants or coffee shops where the menu and the price is the same throughout the country if not the world. We are not! We are small, independently run 'shops'. In most cases you can come in a browse for free but as soon as you wish to make a purchase local conditions apply and the price will reflect this. With most local authorities facing huge deficits anything that is not statutory either has to stop or make enough money to look as if it should continue (not the same as actually covering its costs). In some cases it is only because the service would cost more to stop doing than it does to keep running that it is allowed to continue at all but the expectation is that it will make a contribution to saving money by cutting costs or raising income. As far as taxes go other services take priority - adult and children social care have to be paid for and there are more road users driving over those pot holes than there are people using archives. In my own case I can make a recommendation about charges in September each year. This recommendation has to be based on a percentage increase on all charges as dictated from above (presumably set by the finance director of the council). Therefore I can only tweak things in the hope that I can balance the need for income against what the market will bear. The recommendation then goes back to finance who make it say what they wanted in the first place before it goes before council where the councillors make their own alterations before signing it off. The archive fees and charges are presented to them along with every other fee and charge in the entire local authority so there is no room for reasoned argument even if officers were allowed to talk to councillors, which they are not. Finally the spreadsheet comes back to me for implementation. I tried to make some larger changes to our scales this year to make them more realistic against actual cost but it remains to be seen what I will be told to implement. Now, regarding the issue of charging for camera use and the filling out of forms, others have pointed out reasons behind these so I will just explain the approach we took here. We needed to maintain income being lost as photocopying decreased and take account of the extra work involved in producing more documents for searchers who were ordering large quantities to photograph and then work on at home. We did not wish to disadvantage those people who only wanted one photograph of one document. Our approach was therefore to charge by the document produced and photographed up to a point when we had covered the additional work involved. Currently this stands at 65p per document up to maximum of £16.90 per day (all charges include VAT). If you order a document but don't copy it there is no charge, but if you photograph a document you can take as many shots of it as you like for private use under copyright regulations. We don't like the forms but in order to have a record of what was copied for private use (most of our holdings still having some copyright on them that does not belong to us) we have to have them, file them so that they can be referred back to (mostly when people say 'can you tell me what this photograph is of I forgot to take down the reference?') and store them, which costs money. All the researcher has to do is put the references of the documents photographed on the form, hardly arduous on their part. Regards Pamela Birch Service Manager (Archives Records) Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service 800 years of history, 100 years of service. Open: Mon 9.15am-5pm (5-7pm by prior appointment only), Tues, Wed & Fri 9am-5pm. If you wish to visit please contact us (01234 228833 or [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) to make a booking. Closed Thursday. Tel: 01234 228908 (direct line) 01234 228833 (main office) www.bedford.gov.uk/archive<http://www.bedford.gov.uk/archive> Twitter @BedsArchives Information security classification of this email: OFFICIAL-Unsecure EMAIL CLASSIFICATION DEFINED: *** OFFICIAL-INTERNAL: This message is intended for internal recipients only. *** OFFICIAL-UNSECURE: This message and any attached file(s) do not contain personal or sensitive information which requires it to be sent encrypted. *** OFFICIAL-SECURE: Either this message or any attached file contains either personal or commercially sensitive information that requires it to be sent encrypted. All email traffic may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation. This email and any attached file are the property of Bedford Borough Council. Any opinions expressed in this mail do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Bedford Borough Council. 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