West so he can watch it at home while eating take-out Chinese food, why can’t he watch it in the library’s viewing room? Indeed, watching a library-owned DVD in a small viewing room seems little different from using a library’s microform reader to read microfiche, or a library computer to access digital information; the library is merely providing the equipment that enables patrons to use library materials in the library.
What about allowing small groups to view films in the library? This is a bit more problematic, but if a group consisting of one’s family or friends may watch a rented film at home, they should be able to watch it in a small viewing room in the library. There are limits to how many people can watch a film without it being a public performance, but there is no magic number. We feel very comfortable with the number four, and quite comfortable with eight.
A few words of caution: you can contract away your fair use or other statutory rights, so review carefully any contracts that come with your purchases. And when your library orders a film, you may want to indicate on the purchase order that the film is being purchased by the library for lending and onsite use by library patrons.
Some libraries may be tempted to establish an account with Netflix or a similar service that provides DVDs for rent or streaming access to movies and television programs. The primary issue for libraries in this situation is not copyright, but the terms of service a library must agree to when signing up for the service. No popular service we are aware of offers an institutional account that would authorize sharing the DVDs or streaming access with patrons. So far it appears no library has gotten in serious trouble yet, but violating the terms of service is a good way to get your service terminated.
Some services, such as YouTube or Hulu, stream audiovisual works online for free. For works that are freely available through them, these services have given permission to view them implicitly or expressly in their terms of service. Although this does not necessarily convey public performance rights, you may permit small groups to view online programs via free streaming, as this shouldn’t implicate public performance rights. But playing whole programs or clips to larger groups, like classes, will require permission, relying on TEACH Act exceptions (more on that later), or fair use.
