At the University of Georgia Map Collection we are in much the same situation
as Peter has at Oregon.  We have almost complete air photo coverage of Georgia
from the late 1930's to the 1980's.  We have very heavy usage of those photos
by non-university and off-site users.  This usage is increasing rapidly and is
putting heavy strain on our staff.  We have not charged fees for searchs, only
the current copy room costs for copies.  The UGA Libraries are not under heavy
financial  pressures and currently operates under a open service philosophy.
That means the fees we do charge are limited to normal per-page copy room
charges and postage.  To give some idea of the environment, last year patrons
lazer printed for free over 1 million pages off our Galileo system printers.
The Director did not want to allow this free printing, but no workable way
could be found to charge for the printing, before we put the system into
production.  The Galileo system is a University System-wide Web based catalog
and database (over 100 databases) access system.  I assume the UGA Libraries
will go into a more fee based system in the future and that the Map Collection
will go to something like what Peter has at Oregon.  His proposed fee structure
is in line with our costs here at Georgia.
 
You might consider a related case, Sanborn map reference and copying.  The Map
Collection here at Georgia has the Sanborns for the state of Georgia.  We have
added to the large group of materials we received from LC many years ago.
This gives researchers the capability to search city sites in the state of
Georgia from the 1880s to the 1980s when you combine our Sanborn and Air Photo
holdings.  The Sanborn collection gets very heavy usage, almost on the same
level as the air photos, and the same type of search and copy reference work.
The Sanborns reference is more complex as parts of the collection is still
under copyright.  The Sanborn Mapping and Geographic Information Service in
Pelham, NY, ((914)738-1649) states it holds the copyright on the Sanborn maps
and offers a search and copy service for the maps.  The cost of that service
is (as of Sept. 1994) $35 to do a search to see if they have a map of a site,
and then $30 for a copy of the map of the site.  If you need more than one map
for the site the charge goes to $65 for the site.  Most searchers would pay
around $100 per search and copies.  I think this commercial company is doing
the same thing Peter is doing at Oregon for about the same cost.
 
I did a paper years ago for a NACIS meeting where I developed the cost for most
procedures and storage in a Map Room.  I think Peter is probably under-costing
his operation.  I am sure most commercial companies using his Map Room think
they are getting a great, cheap, deal.
 
 
John Sutherland
Curator of Maps
University of Georgia Libraries