Matt wrote: In the spirit of playing out an experiment to see how it goes, you can count me in. But I don't think this will be especially revealing since, even at half off, this title is still very expensive and out of range for many libraries.
In general this seems like a fun idea, but I'm not sure how well it will work in the long-term. It feels kind of gimicky and not really sustainable as a new purchasing model. What if next month I want Hotel Terminus, will I need to propose to Icarus a Groupon deal, and then wait to see if enough people respond? In the meantime, I have a professor who needs it in two weeks. And THAT is an outstanding point. This kind of setup would work for those kinds of titles *I* want to add to our collection - the kinds of outstanding works I'm keeping an eye out for at NMM, for instance - but it doesn't help when a prof comes in asking for a specific title and, as you say, typically wants to use it posthaste. I agree that it's kind of fun to keep track of the numbers who pipe up and say they'll purchase BEES, as I did, with the "groupon" setup, but I also agree that this WON'T solve it all. Susan at Wabash
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
