Colleagues – Do any of you have an organizational position statement for “collaboration vs services” for your core facilities? I often have informal conversations about this with core directors. As cores in academic institutions play very strong roles in experimental design and data analysis as well as the data generation, advising where to draw the line on collaborations is difficult. How much of that effort is part of the “paid service” and how much is collaboration via intellectual contribution. My conversations often result in a discussion about where the funding is coming from to pay for the director’s effort in the collaboration – and it just doesn’t feel good to resolve such conversations with bureaucratic financial rationale. I’d appreciate any insights any of you have to offer. All the best, Julie