Hello Collective Wisdom,
[This is a bit lengthy, apologies…]
We have a digital collection we will be uploading into Omeka in the next few weeks related to some residential architecture tours the Seattle Art Museum conducted from 1950-1980. We have come up against some copyright concerns from someone
internally at the museum and I am interested to see how others have handled similar situations. I am trying to build a case to show that including photographs in this manner, under these conditions, is standard practice.
Here is our situation:
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We have black and white photographs of museum volunteers (SAM Guild members) posing in front of signs announcing the tours, holding up tour maps, and generally doing other volunteer duties connected with the tours. They are looking
at the camera and clearly aware they are being photographed.
·
The library holds all of the negatives and the contact sheets.
·
The printed photographs state “property of the Seattle Art Museum” on the back.
·
We have found no photographer’s name on any of the material and are assuming the work was done “for hire.”
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The names of the people in the photos are listed on the back and we suspect many are now deceased.
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On our Omeka site, we state “These materials may be protected under copyright law and may only be used for educational, teaching, and learning purposes. If intended use is beyond these purposes, it is the sole responsibility of
the user to obtain the appropriate copyright permissions.”
·
We provide all available information we can within the metadata for each image.
The internal person is mandating that we contact the people in the photographs and get their permission to post the images. In lieu of the person, we need to find next of kin. I feel like this is a bit unreasonable. But, perhaps, I am wrong.
I would love to hear people’s opinions on this and will open my mind to be educated.
If you have examples of instances where you or your institution has published mid-20th century (or newer) photographs on a website with public access, and you did not have individuals sign off giving their permission, I would
greatly like to know about it. I've pointed this person toward section five of the CAA
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts (CAA, 2015), but was told this didn't cover it. Showing standard practice would be a more effective argument.
I’m happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you so much for any advice or examples you can send my way. Once the collection is online, I will be happy to post an announcement on the listserv about it.
Best,
Traci
Traci Timmons, M.A., M.L.I.S.
Librarian, Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library
Seattle Art Museum
1300 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
Phone: 206-654-3220
Library website:
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/programs-and-learning/libraries-and-resources
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