Document delivery from the library catalogue

[Ted Koppel]

>From Anna Belle Leiserson's original message:
*
*In re. OPAC links to Amazon.com, I think it admirable to find new
*ways to use the medium and raise money for a library. However, I
*wonder about the ethics involved.  I do not have a clear answer, by
*the way.  Instead, I think it would be a good idea to pause and
*consider this aspect.
*

   It seems to me that this kind of linking, neat and modern as it is, can
   raise not only ethical, but perhaps legal questions as well.  Assume for
   a moment that my town has a Borders, a Barnes and Noble, as Tattered
   Cover (we should be so lucky!), and some smaller, locally owned
   bookstores.  Assume further that my insitution is a public institution
   supported with taxpayer funds.

   Now, let's say that I have linked by OPAC to Amazon, and I get the 15%
   kickback as described in another message.  It seems to me that the local
   bookstores could make a case that the library is preferring/favoring one
   source over another by displaying that in its OPAC.  The local tax
   collector might make the political point that *by using Amazon*, local
   sales tax on book purchases is lost to the city - if the purchase had
   been made locally, the tax revenue would have been collected.     

   I would counsel serious thought before making these linkages.