Advocacy
Museum Ends Reproduction Fees
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, has announced that, beginning this year, it will no longer charge reproduction fees for its images used in scholarly publications. Publishers will be able to download images from the museum's collection of more than 25,000 works directly from its website.This decision maintains the institution's historic emphasis on the educative role of the museum. Director Mark Jones stated, "High charges have acted as a barrier to spreading knowledge and we want to play a part in removing this."
The museum is expected to keep a broad definition of "scholarly." The images will be available to students and teachers, as well as to publishers, for use in their research and coursework. The museum will continue to charge commercial publications, but their termination of fees for reproduction may encourage other institutions to follow suit.