Gloucestershire Archives charging us to photograph records (Announce)

by admin , Forest of Dean, Friday, November 20, 2009, 00:40 (5474 days ago)

Gloucestershire Archives have introduced a camera charge as from 2nd November 2009

Day licence for camera use £5.00
Weekly licence for camera use £20.00
Annual licence for camera use £100.00

We have up to 6 people at a time involved in a session of photographing the records and having to pay these camera charges makes it very difficult for us.

We have been supplying Gloucestershire Archives with a full transcript of all the records in Excel spreadsheets. On the completion of the project we offered to supply them with the complete database of all the records we have transcribed of the Forest of Dean parishes, many bordering parishes and also the non-conformist chapels. Additionally, all the images of the records that have been photographed were to be given to the Gloucester Archives on compact discs.

Considering our continuing willingness to share the transcriptions with the Archives we thought that the Forest of Dean Parish Records Project team would be exempt from any camera charges. This was not so, and Graham was asked to put forward a case to them regarding exemption from camera charges. This Graham did but we were informed that they would not exempt us from the charges but did offer us a reduced charge.

Being extremely disappointed with the Gloucestershire Archives decision, I contacted them myself and asked them to reconsider their decision, but again their reply was that they would only offer us a reduced charge.

I can appreciate that the Archives are facing an increasingly difficult financial situation but to me in does not make sense that we provide them with copies of all the transcripts we have done and at the same time we have to hand over money to them for the privilege of doing so.

As all of us involved in the parish records transcription and the other projects we have in progress want them to continue, Graham has decided that he will pay the required group camera charge himself and hopefully recover some of it from donations. I do hope that those of you who are in a position to help out towards this cost will do so.

David Watkins