linking to commercial book vendor sites?

[Laura Hudson]

Dear Colleagues,

A question has come up at my institution regarding the appropriateness of 
linking to book vendor sites such as amazon.com.  In searching the Web4Lib 
archives, I see much discussion surrounding the question of becoming an 
-affiliate- of a book vendor and receiving money in return, but not of 
simply selecting a commerce site for linking from a library Website.

Part of me feels that this is indeed significantly different from simply 
selecting sites which contain advertising (such as brittanica.com) or from 
selecting and paying for commercial databases, and is perhaps inappropriate 
for a public institution, but I'm having a difficult time articulating 
exactly why.  Another part of me feels that amazon.com and other such sites 
are a great repository of information, above and beyond their primary 
purpose (commerce), and that linking to them is a service to our patrons.

So, who out there links to book vendors, who out there doesn't, and why or 
why not?  I'd be glad to gather this information and post the results if 
you'd reply to me privately.

Much thanks,

Laura Hudson
Electronic Systems and Services Librarian
San Diego State University
lhudson at mail.sdsu.edu
619-594-3521