Town of Norwood library to launch 'Moral Makers' lending program for AV equipment

The Town of Norwood library told trustees it is close to launching a new program, "Moral Makers," to loan higher-end audio and video production equipment to vetted members.

Library guest presenter James said the program has moved from concept to pre-launch and that staff added a reservation module to the ACVET system to handle equipment reservations and approvals. "We're getting fairly close to launching this new service," James said, adding that the library hopes the offering will be "a great benefit to our community for producing that multimedia type of work."

The program will loan equipment such as a GoPro, a robust editing laptop with video and audio software (including Blender), professional podcast microphones and lavaliers, headphones and PA-style gear. James said staff are building an orientation and a maker agreement that participants must sign; facilitators will assess patrons’ training needs at reservation time and determine whether additional instruction is required. "There's gonna be some orientation where the usage and the checkout procedures and how the equipment is to be used and borrowed will be gone over," he said.

James said the pilot will initially limit membership to Norwood residents who hold a library card in good standing and have been members for six months, but Clayton (the program administrator) can approve exceptions for people who have a demonstrated tie to library activities or town events. "We have this built-in sort of exceptions procedure where Clayton can approve someone into the program," James said.

The library reached out to an outside partner, NCM, for technical feedback. James reported that "Jack Tolman at NCM had some very positive comments as to the design of the program and the software and hardware tools" that will be made available, which the presenter described as a vote of confidence in the design.

Trustees raised questions about whether patrons could use the equipment to create commercial content or produce material the library would find objectionable. One trustee asked whether patrons could make money from projects produced with loaned equipment. James replied the library cannot control patrons’ uses: "We have no control on what people produce with these materials," and said patrons will be asked for a brief description of intended use when they apply to borrow equipment. Another trustee suggested including a standard disclaimer when third parties produce materials; trustees and staff emphasized they will avoid editorial oversight but will cooperate with law enforcement if content or behavior is illegal.

James said the library intends to balance access with stewardship of expensive equipment by providing different training levels and staff oversight. Next steps include finalizing the maker agreement, launching the ACVET reservation features for equipment, establishing facilitator schedules and publicizing the program to prospective members.