Small Libraries Start Using Netflix

Though Netflix, the popular service that delivers DVD rentals to millions of customers, is limited to personal and noncommercial use, a few small libraries have tried it as an interlibrary loan substitute. At Sanbornton Public Library, NH, serving a population under 3000, Director Cab Cinton in March began to use the $16.99 three-discs-at-a-time membership. He contacted Netflix about establishing a library membership but never got a response.

“I think they've got bigger fish to fry,” stated Cinton to LJ, noting that a Newsweek article that mentioned his library also reported that some video stores were Netflix customers. “I don't see it as a negative for them,” Cinton said about libraries as customers. “We're basically marketing the product for them.”

At the Cook Memorial Library (CML), Tamworth, NH, several library patrons have become customers on their own after using the library's Netflix service. CML director Jay Rancourt told LJ. CML loans fewer than ten titles per month, but “it saves us a lot of money,” she said, noting that Netflix supplements the collection and also can be used to screen potential library purchases.