Comments on: showing movies @ your library.

By: LibrarySupportStaff.Org » Blog Archive » Movies in the Library

LibrarySupportStaff.Org » Blog Archive » Movies in the Library — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 04:19:09 +0000

[...] from Librarian.net [...]

By: Sarah Mae

Sarah Mae — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:42:50 +0000

There was just a discussion about this on the YALSA-BK listserv and the explanation given about why the flyers could not be posted all over town had to do with not competing with the local movie theaters.

By: betsy

betsy — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:31:54 +0000

We have a movie license and my understanding, after talking to the rep, was that we could put the name of the movie on flyers IN THE LIBRARY and if sent directly to our library’s cardholders but could not plaster flyers around town with the titles of the movies. Unpaid entries in newspapers are fine, i.e., the community calendar section and This Week at the Library and our town’s online website. So, all in all, we get the movie titles in plenty of places, but I was puzzled as to why we couldn’t have flyers around town with the titles on them…Perhaps I misunderstood the rep, but that seemed like the gist of the licensing deal.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:24:42 +0000

…With a cost that they never state but call “reasonable” …

It’s a sliding scale depending on total local population/patron population/some other stuff. “Reasonable” starts at $275/year for the very smallest of the small rural libraries and goes up from there, and the library evidently can charge admission to recoup *only* the cost of the license itself; I was told that direct fundraising has to stop there, but that a suggested-donation pot is okay thereafter. All in all it seems like a very good deal, and the reps seem competent and enthusiastic without being overly pushy. I’ve been in touch with these folks quite a lot in the last few months, we’re just trying to get the A/V equipment in place to make it worthwhile.

By: joshua m. neff

joshua m. neff — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 14:51:35 +0000

My coworker, Kate, talked to a rep from Movie Licensing USA at PLA this year. She was told that you can promote your movie, including naming it on fliers and in the newspaper, as long as you're not doing it in paid advertisements. Before that, we were doing that "bending over backwards to not name the movie we were showing," and it really hurt our attendance (who's going to go to a movie, even if it's free, when you're not sure what movie is going to be shown and the library talks about it like it's classified information?). My recommendation is: talk to an official rep and make sure they spell out exactly what you can do as well as what you can't.