\"No pictures\" museums

[M. Caecilius]

For a period after my student days, I used to work at the Bodleian Library, where one of the tasks was to supervise the changing exhibitions. It's not a Roman site and few of the exhibits were ancient, but the point of view and experience of a former "security drone" may perhaps be useful.

Photography was forbidden wherever there were books or other perishable materials. The purely stone Divinity School was fine, with and without flash.

We, as the staff, were told it was for the following reasons:

1) The flash damages the exhibits. As said, the stone section was fine but old books and other easily damaged materials dating back centuries and occasionally millenia were not. Or so we were told: I have not the slightest idea whether flash photography actually damages perishable materials, pigments, paper and equivalents, and so forth now that some people like Mike here seem to give arguments that they don't; but if not, it's one of those myths which gets perpetuated through repetition. Our supervisor was hardly telling us lies knowingly.

The reason why photography without flash was not allowed either, in this context, was that people who take photographs occasionally forget to switch off the flash. Especially with digital cameras, where the camera switches itself off after a period of inactivity, and does not remember the last settings.

Happened to me occasionally, from the point of view of the visitor, this time: I once got told off quite severely by a guard in Malta who was either by nature unfriendly or had already had to deal with a few dozen other culprits before and had reached the end of her patience.

2) Copyright issues. Whether it's about making money, selling postcards, or not ( admission was free with us, so it was not about entrance fees; there rarely was a catalog, and in the purely stone parts photography was allowed, so the money-making opportunities were limited). One problem with the exhibition was that many of the items did not belong to us, but were on loan. Sorting out the copyright (or whatever the legal term is for museum holdings) would have been a nightmare.

It's not a nice feeling to have to tell people, whose excitement and love for "your" exhibit you can feel, that they cannot take photographs of that rare manuscript of which you don't have a postcard either, but in my experience visitors were quite friendly if we showed understanding ourselves; I've made some good experiences, this time as a vistor, at the museum in Lyon where the staff were very kind and I finally ended up with a photograph sent to me by the curator's office for free (for use with a thesis); they've since changed their policy at Lyon and photography is now permitted.

Hope the point of view of someone who had to (kindly, I hope), prevent people from taking photographs but knows the side of a foiled photographer too could add something to the discussion.

Best,
Max
Max