Friday night at the movies: Check it out
TOLEDO, Ohio — Charita Kizer toted a basketful of movies through the downtown library with one hand and her 3-year-old son with the other.
She picked up “Lion King 2” and “Lilo & Stich” for him and “Rapid Fire” for herself — all at no cost. “You have to wait for the new releases,” she said. “But I’d rather wait than pay.”
Libraries nationwide are competing with video stores, loaning out and investing more money in DVDs and videos. A few are even starting to charge borrowers too, to cover the costs of buying new releases.
At the library, the competition for the most popular movies can be intense. Crowds jockey alongside the return kiosk to snag new releases at the downtown library in Columbus, Ohio. The video section is packed on Friday afternoons at the library in West Caldwell, N.J.
“The shelves are pretty bare if you come on a Friday night wanting a video for the weekend,” said April Judge, director of the West Caldwell library. About one of every four items checked out at Toledo’s libraries is either a DVD or video, said Chris Kozak, a spokesman for the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.
Many people say they are turning to libraries for free movies and bypassing video stores along with rental fees and late charges. The West Caldwell library charges $2 for new movies, but Judge notes that is still cheaper than most rentals.
The number of video materials stocked by libraries nationwide has risen by 56 percent in four years, according to the most recent figures available from the National Center for Education Statistics. In 2000, the Toledo library circulated 104,639 DVDs. The number jumped to 807,169 by 2004.
The nation’s two biggest movie-rental chains — Blockbuster Inc. and Movie Gallery Inc. — both said they have not seen any evidence that librarians are stealing their customers. They contend that they offer more convenience and better selection than libraries.
“While it may be a creative alternative, it’s really not a threat to our business,” said Blockbuster spokesman Blake Lugash.
Analyst Michael Pachter of Los Angeles-based Wedbush Morgan Securities said libraries can’t match video stores in what they offer in new movies. He noted that on average, four out of five movies rented came out in the last six months.
Online-rental services such as Netflix Inc. are a bigger threat, said Dennis McAlpine, a video store analyst with Scarsdale, N.Y.-based McAlpine Associates.