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Steve Marcus / Las Vegas Sun
Donna Hurd, a Redbox merchandiser, shows library patron Tim Larson how to use a promo code for new customers at a Redbox DVD movie rental kiosk in front of the Paseo Verde Library in Henderson on Tuesday. The Paseo Verde Library and the Green Library recently added the rental kiosks.
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Amy Choi checks the selection of movies at a Redbox DVD movie kiosk in front of the Paseo Verde Library in Henderson on Tuesday. The Paseo Verde Library and the Green Library recently added the rental kiosks.
Two Henderson libraries now house Redbox movie kiosks as part of a nationwide trial by the company.
Gayle Hornaday, assistant director for Henderson District Public Libraries, said waiting lists for movies is a chronic problem for Henderson libraries. The Redboxes are expected to alleviate the problem by providing more copies of popular films.
“We can’t really up our expenditures, but by teaming up with this vendor we can provide access to more current movies,” she said.
Patrons get frustrated by having to wait, and it isn’t unusual to have a 20-person waiting list for a popular title, she said.
Henderson’s Paseo Verde, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway, and Green Valley, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway, locations will become Redbox sites. Redbox rentals cost $1 per night, with late fees of $1 for each day the film is overdue, up to $25.
Until Feb. 4, Henderson library patrons can go to the Paseo Verde or Green Valley libraries to get a free voucher for a one-night movie rental from the Redbox kiosk.
Henderson is one of many locations chosen for Redbox’s national trial. Other locations include Charlotte, N.C., Lexington, K.Y., and Orlando, Fla., said Brian Downing, a cofounder of Library Ideas, the company that provides marketing for Redbox.
Redbox has a waiting list of about 200 libraries that want to become kiosk locations, Downing said.
“It scratches an itch,” he said. “It turns the library into a 24-hour branch, whereas the library typically closes for 8 to 10 hours each night.”
Participating libraries receive 3 percent of the money Redbox makes at their location, he said.
Downing said the Henderson libraries were chosen because they are known as a “progressive location that was receptive to new initiatives.”
Libraries in Princeton, N.J., were the first to serve as Redbox locations, adding kiosks in July 2009.
Leslie Burger, the executive director of Princeton Public Libraries in New Jersey and the former president of the American Library Association, said the libraries added the Redbox because it offered a service the library could not — 24-hour movie availability.
The difference between Redbox and the library, she said, is that Redbox can afford to stock dozens of copies of popular films, while the library can typically only buy two or three.
“It allows us to spend that money on things that Redbox doesn’t stock,” she said, including TV series sets and more obscure foreign films.
“It has been a great decision,” she said. “It’s really been a win-win for everybody.”
how long do you think it will be until some religious group protests these being in libraries because of some movie they don't agree with.
1 week?
2 weeks?
no more reading at libraries!
My concern is the library is going into the rental business indirectly. It offers books, cd's and dvd's at no charge to us. I would be worried they would not keep a good collection of dvd's in stock because of the rental kiosk. This would not be beneficial to those who either can not afford to rent or prefer to use the library facility for their dvd's. I have mixed feelings about this route the library is going.
While its not a traditional role of libraries, it does seem innovative. The Henderson Libraries also allows people to buy books right of their online catalog if they don't want to wait on hold for a book.
No one is forced to go buy a book on the library's website or step outside and rent a DVD. You can just wait on hold for a DVD or a book. Seems to me they are simply offering their customers a convenience. Funny, most of the time I see everyone on here saying government has to be creative, run like a business... someone goes and does that and then everyone wants them to be less creative.
There seems to be plenty of reading going on at the libraries. I was at the Paseo Verde Library the other day and there were so many people there that I had to park in the parking lot next door. Lots of library books going out the door.
Why is there such a demand for library DVD's when there is so much stuff you can watch for free online? There are 80,000 episodes of TV shows on aol.com. Some of these shows haven't been released on DVD, like "Bat Masterson" and "It Takes a Thief". And then there are films that have been posted on you-tube. What kinds of films have such a long waiting list at the library? (Transformers 2? Quantum of Solace?) How fast are the computers at the Henderson libaries? At the Pasadena, CA libraries the DSL connections are fast enough for you-tube but not fast enough to watch network shows on sites like nbc.com.
Heyyyyyy, I'm sure the City of Henderson is getting some monetary value out of this, and they really do need the money. Heck put em up at the Police stations and City Hall too. Go City Council go , Oh and don't forget the Court House. Ya can't call it Hendertucky with technological progress like that. Wooo Hoooo