Watching shows with fines at the Lincoln Center Library?

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 1:09pm

Hey guys,

I owe the Lincoln Center PFA Library like $60.00 in fines because I went away and forgot to return my VHS tapes for like two weeks and did so when I got back. I want to pay the fines, but I just don't have the extra money to do so right now.

I'm a theatre student in NYC and it would be helpful for me to watch the taped performances at the Lincoln Center, but does anyone know if it is possible to request viewings while you owe them fines?

Thanks!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 1:15pm

Pay up

[Jason Bennett]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 1:15pm

Call anonymously and ask...and ask for one-time amnesty, too...tell them ur a starving artist...

[singtopher]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 1:40pm

Morally, I don't think you should watch the videos unless you have an immediate need to watch the videos, i.e. you are specifically studying the show/performer/director at length. Not "I want to see the original cast of blah blah blah for un-specified 'professional purposes'." Just my $.02.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 2:01pm

Oh please. Everyone should do whtever they can to watch the shows there. Those rules they have for viewing them are, as Sarah Palin says, retarded.
Morally, they should just figure out a way to make them accessable to everyone.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 2:31pm

I've worked at the Library of Performing Arts in the past. While I understand the need for a viewing policy, I also have to point out that part of the library is funded with taxpayer dollars. So I feel there is an obligation to the library to be less stringent on their viewing policy.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 2:42pm

"I've worked at the Library of Performing Arts in the past. While I understand the need for a viewing policy, I also have to point out that part of the library is funded with taxpayer dollars. So I feel there is an obligation to the library to be less stringent on their viewing policy."

Beat me to it!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 2:48pm

Fair enough, but if you're going to borrow from/utilize the library, you should be up to date with your fines. That said, if Judas does not have a history of keeping out overdue materials, I think s/he should go in person to the library, present the case just the way s/he's done here, and ask for amnesty, perhaps offering a token payment.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 2:56pm

I'd actually love to pay them. If they had some sort of payment plan that I could work out, or even if I could pay online it would be so much easier. I'm living in Maryland for the next three months, so if I did have extra money I'd just pay the fines online, but that doesn't seem to be an option.

Either way, I think charging me $60.00 for keeping out three VHS tapes is absurd. They are VHS, no one even watches those.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:19pm

Irrelevant whether you think it's fair or not. You knew the rules when you took them out. Besides, many people have only VHS (if nobody watches them, why did you take them out?). You borrowed them. You were late returning them. Pay the fine, or call and discuss an alternative. You say you'd pay them online if you could? Then why not send a check or money order? You're not making sense.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:20pm

"They are VHS, no one even watches those."

Then why did you take them if you didn't intend to watch them?

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:27pm

I was joking with the no one watches them bit. Lighten up all. I intended to watch them, and I did watch them.

I've called them before and they told me that the only way to pay was in person. I spoke to an employee from a branch that wasn't the Performing Arts Library, but just the general New York City Public Library. I don't have a check book, and so I don't write checks. I know that I was late in returning them and I know that I have to pay the fines, so I eventually will, it would just be much easier and I think that they'd have a easier time getting people to pay if they had an online form of payment. Either way, when I get the money, I do intend to pay them, I was just curious as to whether you could watch or not.
Updated On: 6/10/10 at 03:27 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:31pm

Since you aren't checking out anything, they shouldn't require you to pay the fine.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:38pm

That's what I was thinking. I didn't think you had to have a library card to watch stuff there?

Also, if you don't have the money to pay the fines, I don't see how accepting online payments would make it any easier. With the exception of possible some university libraries, I don't know of any that allow you to pay your fines online.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:40pm

Phyllis,

It would just be easier for me because that way I could just pay as soon as I got some extra money to do so instead of waiting until I could come back to the city.

And thanks, I didn't know that you didn't need a card to be able to watch things there. I had just assumed you needed it because you need one for the Library, and it's a part of it, right? Updated On: 6/10/10 at 03:40 PM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:45pm

You most definitely need a card to visit the archives, as well as a reason to do so. Not having a checking account doesn't matter, either. I am quite sure that if you sent money orders (available at any post office or check cashing store) in increments, they would accept them.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 3:48pm

Thanks for the suggestion ghostlight, maybe I'll look into doing that then. Something probably tells me they aren't going to turn away money if I send it.

Thanks for the info everyone.

[mfshutte]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 4:10pm

"I've worked at the Library of Performing Arts in the past. While I understand the need for a viewing policy, I also have to point out that part of the library is funded with taxpayer dollars. So I feel there is an obligation to the library to be less stringent on their viewing policy."

Actually, the viewing limitations are set in the agreements with the theatrical unions and producers. The library is just following the contract. The alternative is that they would not be able to record and archive the 60+ performances they do each year.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 5:39pm

"Actually, the viewing limitations are set in the agreements with the theatrical unions and producers. The library is just following the contract."

I'm familiar with the contracts and even the idiosyncracies that actors/directors/producers put on the viewing of the shows. The library has a much more stringent policy than necessary.

[emilyfaye48]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 5:57pm

pay your fines, have you been to the NYPL's website as of late? They're down like 37 million dollars.

As for the viewing, does anyone else think they should do screenings for donations? Then we could see the shows and the library would make some money. Just an idea, I think the one-time viewing policy is insane!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 6:29pm

"As for the viewing, does anyone else think they should do screenings for donations?"

Unfortunately while that's an excellent idea, the unions will not allow that. A group would be considered a performance and the unions would require the actors to be compensated. Additionally, the tapes are not that great. They are basically a 2 camera filming with one camera for closeups and one camera in the balcony to cover the entire stage. They really are filmed more for studying than for entertainment.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 7:11pm

singtopher, do you ever get a nosebleed?

[singtopher]

Posted: 6/10/10 at 8:18pm

Well, ya'll bring up good points.

If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't bend the rules until I payed up. But, as I said, there is nothing wrong if it is for genuine academic reasons.

Then again, I was raised Catholic.

So on that note, do whatever the hell ya feel like.

And, yes, SM2. I'm sitting here with a fresh box of tissues.

[isntitromantic]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 11:06am

Just call ahead of time for an appointment to view. They will have you fill out a form for purpose of view, but that is all. You can also "claim returned" for your overdue items (to the 40th Street Bookdrop, perhaps) and they will write the whole thing off.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/11/10 at 11:24am

Yeah well my genuine reasons for watching videos there is because I genuinely want to watch them and I've never once given a truthful reason for doing so a none of my friends have either. And morally, I'm just fine with that. By your logic, if someone has a late fee at Blockbuster they shouldn't be allowed to watch any movies anywhere until it's paid because it's cheating Hollywood.

The OP didn't want to take materials out of te library he wanted to use reference materials. Do you not think he should be allowed to use the encyclopedias there until the fines are paid as well?