Libraries 5, Netflix 0

In this world of Netflix of which I’m happily a member, it is important to note times when libraries can outperform the commercial sector.

I’ve come to depend on Netflix for finding rare movies. But today Netflix disappointed me. I’ve been listening to the podcast of a nonviolence course at Berkeley “PACS 164B – Nonviolence Today.” For several weeks now the class has been discussing documentaries about nonviolent revolutions in the Philippines, Serbia, Chile and other places.

While the discussions have been fascinating, I haven’t be able to listen to the films’ audio portion because copyright concerns require their exclusion from webcasts. So I wrote the course instructor and he kindly provided all the titles that he will be using this semester, including ones already screened. Except for one film just made that isn’t yet available to the public, there were five titles.

I went to Netflix to add them to my lengthy queue and was disappointed to find that NONE were available through Netflix.

My disappointment was short-lived as I hopped over to Open WorldCat, a publicly accessible version of a global library catalog. All five films had records with multiple copies. When my library opens tomorrow, I’ll start borrowing the films two at a time.

If you’d like to explore these films for yourself, here are the titles along with the Open WorldCat links:

The good war and those who refused to fight it
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49243913

Where there is hatred
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/22301906

Bringing down a dictator
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61226125

Raiz forte Strong roots
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48369423

Peace Pilgrim an American sage who walked her talk
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61390623

If you’ve seen any of these films, please use the comments link to let me know what you thought of the film(s).

And let’s all rejoice together that even when the corporate sector fails us, we still have libraries!