The optimist in me hopes DuVernay’s advocacy for non-profit screenings, and Netflix’s apparent agreement to facilitate such use, will kick-start a new .edu friendly approach to provide access to restrictively licensed content. However, my more realistically grounded experience with trying to negotiate with Amazon.com, Universal Music Group, and Apple for .edu access to online-only music, gives me reason to doubt a new trend is in the works (e.g., see http://bit.ly/1k5QpEZ). I hope I’m wrong.
I like the idea of working with ALA’s Digital Content & Libraries Working Group (DCWG), creators of the “ebook license scorecard.” While they focus on the e-book issue, their charge isn’t limited to print. That said, they probably won’t focus on audio/video unless we advocate. When ALA Mid-Winter was last in Seattle (2013), I went to the DCWG meeting and spoke up about the online-only media issue. Carrie Russell (Director, ALA Program on Public Access to Information) and Cliff Lynch (CNI) were there, and both (among many others) have been very supportive of raising awareness about the issue—-and seeking a range of solutions (e.g., not just paying increasingly unaffordable licensing costs). Erika Linke and Carolyn Anthony are now DCWG co-chairs. Do we need our own scorecard for streaming media providers, even if they already provide .edu access? I’m glad to see so many riled up about this issue. Advocacy leads to change! - John ……………………………… John Vallier Head, Distrib Media Svcs Affl Asst Prof, Ethnomusicology U of Washington Libraries, Media Lab+Arcade http://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/vallier 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.
