Just an observation based on many years in the retail industry prior to entering government service nearly 15 years ago... From my retail experience: There will always be customers who say they got the same product for less money than you want to offer it for. (Sometimes that will be true; often it is not. They could be making an honest mistake, or they are trying to bargain a concession from you.) From my government experience: There will always be customers who claim that they obtained a document from someone else that you are refusing to release because it is confidential or restricted or because there are institutional policies prohibiting it. And to paraphrase Shakespeare's text: "The (man) doth protest too much, methinks." (Also something I see quite often: someone hopes to win a point with noise and bluster when truth has failed.) Identifying one particular individual relative to one particular case won't achieve much in the long run. Others will appear just like him in the months ahead. There are reasons for your institution's policy. Stick to them. If he wants what you have to offer, he will simmer down, abide by that policy, and pay the appropriate fee. (If he does not wish to do so, he can always take his "business" somewhere else. You really can't please all of the people all of the time...even though we often try.) Paul R. Bergeron Nashua, NH 03060 -----Original Message----- From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chuck Hill Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 2:54 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Ethics issue I am considering a posting regarding a patron who has been requesting photographs from our collections. The patron has received photographs regarding the same subject from other university archives, and has stated that "I am a private collector who's hit a goldmine of shots in the university archive circuit." However, in my dealings the patron has been somewhat unreasonable by expecting us to scan and print 120 images at a reduced rate (normal rate would equal $20 per image) and all at once (our policy states that we will scan 10 images per month per patron). In correspondence the patron stated that two other archives had given a reduced rate of $10 per image (for 8X10 B&W prints) because it is a bulk order (when I pointed out that it in fact was not a bulk order - multiple copies of the same image - but a large order that would require more time and effort on our part, the patron became indignant and stated that "Other university archives have been accomodating and offered me reduced fees for such a 'large' order."). Upon contacting those institutions I discovered that $10 was the normal rate at one repository and the other gave reduced rates that exceeded $10. My question: Would it be ethical to post a warning of sorts that did not include the persons name or gender but did mention the types of images the patron wanted and the way that they went about trying to get reduced rates? Thanks, chuck hill University Archivist Eastern Kentucky University A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>