Re: renting films

Kristine R. Brancolini (brancoli@indiana.edu)
Thu, 4 Jan 2001 06:00:55 -0800 (PST)

We don't rent films or videorecordings for departments. However, I don't
think that any department except Film Studies rents films or
videorecordings for classroom use. We will purchase just about any title
that a faculty member requests. If the title is outside the scope of our
collection development policy, we recommend interlibrary loan. That is
handled by our interlibrary loan department, working with the individual
faculty member, not the academic department. And, as we all know,
interlibrary loan doesn't work like a booking service from a rental
library, so it's difficult to time the arrival just right for a classroom
showing. But it can be done. We also lend and work with the faculty
members at other colleges and universities to assure that the tape is
there on the right date.

With regard to J Rossette's comments: It is legal to lend videorecordings
to other libraries, just as we lend books. If a distributor sends me a
license agreement for a videorecording that prohibits lending to another
institution, I'm likely to decline to purchase the tape. You can put
whatever you want in a license agreement, but very few tapes are so
essential to the collection that I will buy them with restrictions on use.
I do not include broadcasting in this statement. Everyone realizes that
broadcasting or cable distribution requires permission. We lend
relatively few videorecordings on interlibrary loan each year --
approximatley 300 -- so this isn't exactly big business. Our interlibrary
loan department charges a small fee for *some* loans, including some video
loans. This is not a rental fee. We charge the same fee for books and no
one has accused us of "renting" books. This is essentially a non-issue.
It reminds me of the early arguments made against video collections in
libraries -- no one will buy videotapes and we'll put the video stores out
of business. As we all know, neither of those predictions happened.
Interlibrary loan is no serious threat either.

Indiana University library will lend videorecordings to any faculty member
at any college or university in the United States (and probably Canada).
Please contact me if you have questions about our policy. -- Kris

On Thu, 4 Jan 2001, LeeAnne Krause wrote:

> We require departments to procure their own rentals.
> L. Krause
>
>
>
> >>> eckleyt@mville.edu 01/03/01 03:44PM >>> I was wondering if there are
> libraries paying for the renting of videos for campus departments, for
> example from the filmakers library? Or is the general practice that the
> department would pay for the rental? Thanks for input and HAPPY NEW
> YEAR!
>
> --
> Tami-Jo Eckley
> Electronic Services & Media Librarian
> Manhattanville College Library
> Purchase, New York 10577
> http://www.mville.edu/library
> Tel:(914) 323-5274
> Fax:(914) 694-8139
> ______________________________________
>
> --
>
>

Kristine R. Brancolini, Director, Digital Library Program
Main Library E170, 1320 E. Tenth Street
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: 812.855.3710 | Fax: 812.856.2062 | Web: www.dlib.indiana.edu