Fee for External Users of the Herbarium

[Teuvo Ahti]

Dear Diana: In the 1970's the Farlow Herbarium, Harvard University,
started charging for loans. Then I wrote to Frans Stafleau, representing
the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, suggesting an
international boycott against that herbarium so that the new practice
would not be spreading. This led to negotiations which removed the
charges. You may tell you chair that there may be a threat of a boycott
against your institution and its staff members! On the other hand, I
myself have paid for the loan costs in special cases, such as in small
herbaria in third world countries. In expect that your problem is real in
some other institutions as well - and we all are afraid that bureaucrats one
day discover that the traditional loan and exchange service is a
potential source of money! Ted Ahti.