Travis Kaya | EDUCAUSE \ September 18, 2010
A Netflix subscription seems like a no-brainer for an academic library with a limited budget to meet campus demand for audiovisual materials. But as more librarians sign up for its popular mail and streaming-video services, Netflix says library distribution of rented DVD’s or streaming video violates its terms of use.
According to Steve Swasey, Netflix’ vice president of corporate communications, Netflix does not offer institutional subscriptions. All of its media are meant only for personal consumption. Loaning DVD’s out for faculty members to project onscreen in class or allowing students to watch streaming video from a library Netflix account is something the company “frowns upon,” Mr. Swasey said.
The company knows that its service is being used by librarians, but so far it has not taken legal action to stop them. “We just don’t want to be pursuing libraries,” Mr. Swasey said. “We appreciate libraries and we value them, but we expect that they follow the terms of agreement.”
For more on the story: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Academic-Libraries-Add-Netflix/27018/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en