[WEB4LIB] RE: CD-Writable question and Patron Access computers

[Richard L. Goerwitz III]

Lori Bowen Ayre wrote:
> 
> > At this point, wouldn't it make sense to start thinking about DVD
> > as well?
> 
> I think so.  In fact, we just put together systems for patron
> access that included a DVD, CD-RW and 100MB Zip drive.  That
> should cover all the bases.

Just a thought about DVDs:

Most DVDs today are crippled, but not advertised as such.  They
can be used to save and edit home movies, digitized photos, and
so on.  But you can't use them to save any streamed information
copyrighted by the major companies.

Normally, patrons have the right to make personal copies of any
media they come to the library to view/hear/see.  You can copy a
page out of a book by hand, if you like.  Or you can photocopy
the chapter it's from.  Likewise, you can save tracks from sev-
eral DVDs you have been listening to onto another DVD and take
that DVD home.  You can't go and use that DVD then as part of a
distance-education course (generally single-frames and other
short excerpts are thought to be okay in that context; but for
personal use the rules are different).

Most of the major DVD vendors, however, will only sell you crip-
pled units that can't do any of this.

Oh, and if you do make recordings that you want to copy protect
yourself (like the big manufacturers), you can't do that either
with most DVD drives.  So, e.g., if you record a video presen-
tation for students, and you want to press a few DVDs that can't
be copied, you're out of luck.  The right to make copy-protected
DVDs requires writing to blocks that most DVDs can't write to.

Libraries - especially ones that are part of larger institutions
or who buy in quantity - should check first with the vendors who
are providing them their DVD units, and make sure they come
clean.  They'll tell you about all the neat things you can do
with the DVD units, and basically leave out the things you can't
do (but have a perfect legal right to do - but which manufacturers
would really like to prevent you from doing, because they think
they'll make more money that way).

-- 

Richard Goerwitz                               richard at Goerwitz.COM
tel: 401 438 8978