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Re: On-line auctions



Good morning, everyone!

We approach this rather delicate problem by being up front with donors. Most
of our collections consist of printed material and photographs. Donors are
told, both before and after the donation is made, that if records in a
donation duplicate what we already have, we will offer the duplicates for
sale (after setting aside the best duplicate as a backup to the originals on
file, of course), and that proceeds from the sale will be used to support
the operations of the Archives, including the occasional purchase of other
records. So far, no one has objected to that at all.

We haven't yet tried the on-line auction; so far, all we've done is offer
the duplicates to our members through our magazine. There is talk of
advertising the duplicates on-line, but I'm apprehensive of doing this
because of the added time needed to process additional inquiries and tell
more people that something is sold out.

Best wishes,

Thomas Berry, Archivist
Historical Construction Equipment Association
16623 Liberty Hi Road
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone 419-352-5616
Fax 419-352-6086
tberry@hcea.net
http://www.hcea.net




----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul A Oelkrug" <oelkrug@LIBRARY.UTA.EDU>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2001 2:42 PM
Subject: Re: On-line auctions


> List,
>
> As an archivist want-to-be, I too am interested in this method of
deaccessioning
> unwanted items.  It seems to me that the unwanted items should first be
offered to
> the donor/donors if at all possible.  If not possible, selling the items
in question
> seems to me like a good alternative (I do not know of too many archives
that couldn't
> use extra funds).
>
> I do have to agree that, although there may be nothing wrong ethically
speaking,
> selling items on Ebay or other on-line auctions doesn't look good.  This
is because, I
> believe, of the public's perception of archives and special collections.
>
> Perhaps deaccessioned items should be offered to other
depositories/museums who
> might be interested in them.
>
> Just my two cents.
>
>
>
> On 8 Sep 2001 at 13:25, Abby Lester wrote:
>
> > I think this discussion is very important. I don't think, however, that
we
> > have hit on the meat of the question yet. What are the ethical
> > ramifications surrounding selling deaccessioned items in online
auctions?
> > What type of image do patrons get when they see a museum or
> > archives "selling" their collections? We have discussed this at my
> > institution, but the staff has always decided that it wouldn't "look
good"
> > to patrons for us to sell our collections online. I have not yet made up
my
> > mind on this subject and would like to encourage further discussion.
> >
> > Abby Lester
> > Archivist and Librarian
> > The Jewish Museum of Maryland
> > 15 Lloyd Street
> > Baltimore, MD 21202
> >
> > A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
> >       In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
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> >
> > 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 <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>
> Paul A Oelkrug
> University of Texas-Arlington
> Special Collections
> 817-272-7580
> oelkrug@library.uta.edu
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
>       In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
>                     *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
> To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu
>
> 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 <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

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 <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>