Thoughts on streaming video in libraries

I sent this post as a reply to a VIDEOLIB LISTSERV thread about video distributors, streaming content, and libraries being forced to license the rights more than once.

original post:
Gary Handman, Head Media Resources Center, Moffitt Library, UC Berkeley.
I'm very interested in distributors that opt for limited-term licenses rather than in-perpetuity licensing...makes absolutely no sense from a buyer's perspective: this ain't ejournal territory, in which content in a database changes and expands over time (in which case limited-term licensing makes sense). What we're talking about is paying for access to the same film over and over and over again. This kind of economic model wasn't foisted on us in the days of analog...why should it be in the days of digital?

Gary Handman

reply by Patty Hornbeck
Hornbeck, Patty wrote:

> Good point, Gary. Talk with your distributors! Many of them are trying to find their balance with this new service as well, and will listen and consider fair comments about their pricing and licensing terms. Buyers need be involved with setting the ground rules for the marketing of streaming media and we will never have a better opportunity.
> Patty _________________________________ Patricia Hornbeck Media Resources Development Coordinator Middlebury College Library and Information Services/#212 Middlebury, VT 05753
> (802)443-2268 phone (802)443-5698 fax Email: hornbeck@middlebury.edu

My reply:

I hope the distributors are listening! So many questions arise when we start talking about licensing. What about the quality of the product? If a library has three year license to stream a 320x240 pixel video to their patrons, are they also purchasing a dvd for their library collection as part of the price? Digital distribution of the media but with severely diminished quality does not make for an equal exchange. And we are being asked to pay more than once? puh-leeze!

What about features or feature-length films as opposed to shorter educational video? If they are streamed and have no physical counterpart in the library, can the media be projected to a group at an acceptable quality for programming purposes?
The only difference that _should_ exist between a library circulating a physical digital versatile disc and being able to deliver that same content over a network should be the ease of access to users (who knows? maybe as the technology becomes ubiquitous, networked audiovisual content will become an ADA compliance issue?!).