that’s what on tap.

the print-on-demand thing is quite complicated. there are basically three factors in-play - product mix, price-point, and site of sale.

product mix might be the easiest to consider, (just start with yoru highlights OR whatever you have good-enough digital images of) but the scalibility of the mix is hindered when stakeholders insist that adding images means calibrating equipment by-hand with match prints. (the enlightened view is probably to rely more-havily on color profiles, once you have a trusted printing partner)

Price-point is probably easy for retail minds to tackle. basically, our archival prints are well worth the significant price tag - these are all of the highest quality, and each one is printed individually, by our professional photographer staff. but, how can we best provide notecards and more-affordable “poster-quality” prints for the rest of us? and, what should these cost?

wholesale costs, and costs of business are still a bit hard to measure. notecards might wind-up costing around a buck a piece, 11×17 posters might be several dollars, in materials. it’s the harder-to-measure costs of production and fulfillment that could prove difficult.

and when we think about on-site vs. on-line sales, and the alignment of these, expecially within the context of special exhibition shops - short runs, complicated licensing issues - it gets unwieldy.

we’ll see how well the MFA does at getting SOMETHING up to pilot in time for the holiday season!

MyMFA is still on the backburner.

and we are still fixing many small search, update and rendering bugs within the online collections - but we are super-proud it is all up there for the world to read. we feel strongly that this represents more than just a database. it is, to us, a huge, dynamic electronic publication of important collecitons related images and scholarship. as imperfect and unwieldy as it is, we are dedicated to improving and enhancing it over the coming years.

thanks again,

Phil