AAM Annual Meeting
New Orleans, May 8, 2004
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Co-Chairs Vanessa and
Suzanne introduced themselves and gave brief history of RARIN. They asked attendees to introduce
themselves and explain why they are there.
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Eleven attendees (not
including co-chairs) are from institutions such as Alaska Heritage Center,
Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, University of Colorado Museum,
Minnesota Historical Society, Orange County Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty
Museum, Noguchi Museum, and Terra Museum.
They are curators, collections managers, registrars, and rights &
reproductions coordinators. Many
have little direct experience with rights, and are interested in learning
more. Some had specific questions,
particularly those dealing with digital and web rights.
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Suzanne and Vanessa
circulated a copy of the completed RARIN fee survey done by Ruth Roberts. Copies are not available to take, but
the survey will soon be available online on the RARIN web site (maintained by
Suzanne) as a PDF. The survey is
mostly numbers, but does include some comments. Useful to see how your institutionÕs fee schedule fits amongst
others and to check this periodically.
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Suzanne asked attendees
for opinions on whether the completed survey, which is very long, should be
parsed further. Vanessa noted that
111 out of 150 institutions participated in the survey, and most were from the
United States though a few are international. They are investigating whether to contact a research service
used by AAM to see if any additional analysis can be done on the data to
extract further information. (For
example, to interpret it more clearly along institutional size.) Would like to do so if not price
prohibitive. Someone suggests that
the surveyÕs participating institutions be asked whether the additional
analysis should be undertaken.
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There are some general
resources available to those with r&r questions:
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Ruth Roberts will take
questions or inquiries can always be posted to the RCAAM listserv;
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There is a museum
intellectual property listserv managed in CA called Musip;
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Handbook idea has its
roots in a description of rights & reproductions functions that Vanessa saw
over a decade ago. ItÕs envisioned
as a primer for novices. There are
people doing the function who have never been trained on the critical thought
processes for handling rights.
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Attendees brainstormed
ideas for possible chapters:
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Sample forms (some are
available now on RARIN web site)
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Comparison of r&r
policies/functions
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Fees
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Terms and definitions
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Copyright
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Licensing function
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Releases
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Sample 'cease and desist'
letters
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Limitations for rights
granted (world rights, etc.)
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Digital rights
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Acquiring rights
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Photography policy
(galleries, live performances)
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Someone notes that this
could balloon into a huge project if we attempt to cover every conceivable
question. Suzanne asked Tom at the
Orange County Museum of Art to create an outline of the issues that should be covered
in the handbook. Leo at the Terra
and Carl at the Noguchi are also willing to work with Tom on an outline. Tom collects business cards from all
attendees. Possible next step is
to send outline to attendees for initial feedback? Then to flesh out by sending outline to respondents to
RuthÕs survey?
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Vanessa issued a call
for topics and session participants for next yearÕs AAM in Indianapolis. Last yearÕs idea (for this yearÕs AAM)
was a RARIN session on how to figure out who owns the copyright to a work, i.e.
tools for finding a copyright holder. This could be the topic for next year. a volunteer will need to step forward
to organize the session.
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The survey results, a
handbook, and a program session combined would be a good presence at AAM next
year. One good panel rather than a
daylong seminar. There is the
challenge of approaching the subject from a variety of levels.
Cherie Chen
Associate Registrar
Rights & Reproductions
The J. Paul Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1000
310-440-7658