Robbie wrote (And I must comment it, my dear friend):

> Like collectors, all libraries and museums enjoy expanding their
> holdings, but not all make the holdings available for copying.
> IPAM (with a fine roll collection) and USC (with the Simonton
> collection of several hundred Welte rolls) do not lend rolls
> for copying, so the piano roll collections (which are presumed
> to include many rare performances) are crumbling to dust.  I hope
> that a nicer place can be found for Richard's recent discoveries.

This is because public collections (museums, archives, even zoos) have to
follow different rules than private collectors.
We are obliged and responsible to the public (which pays us to do that
job) to care for the material (we buy with their money) in our
collections as good as possible as well as to give public/scientific
access to the material.  This includes of course that we are not allowed
to let our material crumble to dust nor to clue piano rolls with
self-adhesive tape or  nor to give it freely away under no conditions.

In our case (Augustinermuseum Freiburg) we have a specialized restorer
who looks after our paper and paper-related objects --among them the
piano rolls-- and holds them in the best possible condition. He also
seeks for the best way to repair damaged rolls according to the material
they are made of ( scientific analysis of 12 different papers found in
Welte rolls not yet finished, in work at http://www.re.fh-koeln.de/!re_home.htm  ).
We also began years ago to save the data of rare rolls by scanner.

See also http://www.icom.org/ethics.html for those rules. Citation:

2.7. Public Access

The general public (or specialized group served, in the case of
museums with a limited public role), should have access to the displays
during reasonable hours and for regular periods. The museum should also
offer the public reasonable access to members of staff by appointment or
other arrangement, and full access to information about the collections,
subject to any necessary restrictions for reasons of confidentiality or
security as discussed in para. 7.3 below.

I cannot speak for other organisations or even private foundations, but
we have to keep those rules mentioned above as well as others.
The definition of a professional museum/collection can be found at
http://www.icom.org/statutes.html , see Article 3 there.
We are also bound to national or EC-rules, which prevents for example a
mayor or a town-council to sell the collections of the city's museum if
they ruled the city to bankruptcy.

I know it seems sometimes hard for a collector which is used to buy and
sell items freely and also to lend it to other collectors to understand
and keep this rules we are obliged to.

We also have a different understanding of conservation and restauration,
therefore once again http://www.icom.org/ethics.html , Articles 6.2
and 6.3.

Kind regards from sunny Freiburg
Gerhard Dangel-Reese

Augustinermuseum
Augustinerplatz 1-3

D-79098 Freiburg im Breisgau
fon +49-761-201-2528
fax +49-761-201-2597