Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections decided to work with the Matsura Collection for this project because subject wise it was the most appropriate collection for digitizing and for publishing it on the Web. We were aware that the Okanogan County Historical Society had a claim to the intellectual rights for a large number of prints in our possession because it owned the glass negatives. The estimated number of photographs in our collection is around 1800. As mentioned before, it has not yet been exactly determined how many out of these 1800 prints fall under the ownership copyright of the Okanogan County Historical Society. This number still needs to be exactly determined, and we hope to have that done in a near future.

Since, we wanted to work with the Matsura Collection, we contacted Meribeth Miller
From the Okanogan County Historical Society. During the first few telephone conversations it appeared that it would be very difficult to convince the Historical Society to grant us the permission to publish these photographs on the Web.

I explained to Meribeth that the whole project was envisioned to take place here in MASC. Since, at that point it was hard to exactly determine how many prints and which exactly prints were under their intellectual rights, and how many and which ones were under MASC's we would like to request and hopefully obtain a formal permission to scan images in our possession. Provided, they would give us the permission we would scan our existing prints in MASC. Accordingly, we would do all of the work in regard to scanning and creating the metadata for the scanned images. I further explained that the Content Database would be used for this project, and that they would have the opportunity to view it and see how it works. There are two fields within this database which will indicate that the original glass negatives are housed in the Okanogan County Historical Society, and that all duplication or copyright inquires should be directed to the Historical Society. I also indicated to her that as a result they might receive a greater volume of inquiries.

If they would not grant us the permission, then Trevor Bond, our Special Collections Librarian would come to Okanogan to determine which prints were under our intellectual control. Once the prints were identified and clearly determined as "ours" we would not need their permission to publish them on the Internet. Our understanding was that they have working prints for all of their glass negatives, therefore Trevor could work with these prints to compare them with our prints.

Further, much of my convincing efforts went into stressing that by allowing us to publish this on the Web site, the Historical Society would not loose any control. It will actually provide the Okanogan County Historical Society with more and better control. In the past MASC has reproduced prints for patrons from our existing prints, and has granted permission to scholars and researchers to publish them in various sources. Now, the requests for all the material that is under their control, housed in Okanogan County Historical Society will come directly to them. In addition, they would know exactly who is requesting the material and for what purposes. Digitizing the images on the Internet would serve as a publicizing tool and it would promote their collection. In the end it would generate more work and income for them because from our experience, once we publish something on the Internet the number of requests for given material substantially increases.

I talked with Meribeth about some concerns among the members of the Board, i.e., that any person searching the Web could download these Matsura images and use them for publications, exhibits, etc. This would be quite unlikely because any serious scholar or researcher wants to get credits and recognition for his/hers work and would not jeopardize his/hers professional integrity. Publishers also still pursue the "old fashion channels" for requesting the permission to publish images or text and do not want to get into lawsuits by publishing something without the proper permission. Furthermore, these scans are done at a very low resolution (72 dpi) and thus the quality of the image is quite poor, nothing like a quality image for camera ready publishing needs, nor for exhibit pieces. Of course, there might be instances when students would download a few of these images for class assignments, and class presentations. However, these instances would not directly affect them. These occasions would be equivalent to students coming to MASC to have the photocopies made from the prints, i.e. ten cents per copy of a given image. Consequently, MASC could lose just a few dollars in these cases, while students' use for class projects and presentations would be legitimate because it falls under the "fair use" copyright law.

I also went on explaining that publishing on the Web was a new phenomenon and it still made many of us uncomfortable. However, it is important to bear in mind that as public institutions in a democratic society we have the responsibility to provide free and open access to our collections. Publishing collections on the Internet, such as this one of Matsura prints, is strictly to enhance the access for the citizens in this state, and nationwide. In addition, it will greatly enhance citizen's ability to use this rich cultural and historical resource. This collection, as numerous other collections, was placed in MASC for students, faculty, researchers and scholars to use them. In the same manner they obtained the glass negatives for the majority of our Matsura prints. They were offered to the Okanogan County Historical Society with the main purpose and goal, i.e., so that these negatives be housed, processed, preserved and made accessible for the people of Washington. The intention was not only for the Historical Society to generate some revenues from their photo duplication but also for the Historical Society to make them available and accessible for present and future patrons' use.