Exploring the charging environment for digital images
Simon Tanner, HEDS Digitisation Services, United Kingdom
http://heds.herts.ac.uk/mellon/charging_models.html

Mini-Workshop: Opinions: Professional Forum

In 2002 HEDS carried out a study of pricing for digital images compared to analog photographic surrogates for rare and unique items held in museums and libraries. The focus of this study was upon the UK and Europe (report available at http://heds.herts.ac.uk/mellon/charging_models.html). In 2003, HEDS will extend this study on behalf of the Mellon Foundation to focus upon art museums in the USA.

This workshop will give participants the opportunity to hear the results of the UK/European study and to find out more about the US art museum study. Both projects explore the cost and policy models adopted in arriving at pricing structures and aim to discover some of the factors that affect the willingness of museums to collaborate and enable digital content to be shared. However, the information that is being sought is not necessarily readily available, nor are the methods and tools to gather the information fully formed in museums.

The forum would seek to discuss methods, tools and information requirements for pricing digital images. The participants will have a direct influence over the method used for the HEDS study of US art museums in 2003.