[Publib] Netflix Accounts

[Sharon Albert]

The following supplies are available if anyone is interested:

Nu-kote ribbon for use with IBM Wheelwriters 3,5,6 B192 (6 in a box)

Nu-Kote 69TL Olivetti ET Tackless lift-off tape

Nu-Kote BM187 Epson LX80 ribbon

3 boxes of Panasonic SKX-E20 electronic typewriter ribbons

5 Okipage 6e/6ex OL400e/600e/810e series genuine black toner cartridge
kits

Okidate Microline 320/321 320/321 Turbo Okidata 100 series black ribbon
cartridge

Panasonic electronic typewriters SKX-E Correction Tapes (6 in a box)

Canon BJ cartridge BC-02

If you are within our range, we can use CD&L otherwise, it will be the
cost of shipping.


Sharon Albert
Senior Librarian
Linden Free Public Library
31 E. Henry Street
Linden, NJ 07036
908-298-3830
salbert at lindenpl.org


-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Cab Vinton
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 5:33 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Netflix Accounts

The Sanbornton Public Library in New Hampshire is one of the libraries
mentioned in the recent press (Newsweek, Library Journal, etc.) We're
a small, rural PL far from the mainstream -- pop'n < 3k, 2 FTE's, open
35 hrs per week -- so who knows how we ended up on somebody's radar
screen.

We signed up for 3 DVD's at a time. Netflix doesn't distinguish
between personal & corporate accounts -- we simply completed the
regular online sign-up procedure & entered both my name & the
library's name.

Before anyone proceeds further, you should know that there's some
potential for controversy surrounding Netflix use by public libraries.
The original Newsweek article will give you a flavor of this:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/117881.

And at least a segment of the broader community of regular subscribers
is not too pleased with us:
http://community.netflix.com/forum/topic/show?id=1993323%3ATopic%3A36228
.

I should stress that our use of Netflix does not have the company's
formal stamp of approval & may violate the terms of their customer
agreement. (I'd made the mistake of assuming that there were no
potential legal minefields since I'd heard of other libraries signing
up w/ Netflix in the past. The other librarians in my area now think
I'm some kind of renegade bandit librarian, soon to make his debut at
the local county jail.)

As soon as the article came out, I made efforts to open a dialogue
with Netflix to make sure that our use was OK with them. I also
offered to cancel our subscription if asked to do so. They never
responded, however, which I and the Board of Trustees have chosen to
interpret as tacit approval, at least for the time being.

An intellectual property lawyer we consulted informally saw no
objection to our approach. But proceed at your own risk!

With respect to logistics: We're not automated yet, so circulation's
done the old-fashioned way. We hang on to each movie until demand
falls off. We send the movies back in the normal fashion (ubiquitous
red envelopes.) Since the beginning of February, we've requested 15
movies and had maybe 30-40 circs.

Our thought was to use Netflix as an alternative to ILL for
hard-to-get or pricey movies (documentaries, TV series, foreign films,
etc.), but at least a few of our patrons seem to think it's a great
way to get a hold of new release movies.

It's a great service for a library such as ours & I'd be sorry to see
it go. As always, your mileage may vary.

Cheers,

Cab Vinton
Sanbornton Public Library
Sanbornton, NH


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