Jay --

Koha libraries have been using Amazon images for some time in production,
internationally.

Amazon is free to determine whether this use is considered "strictly"
promotional enough for their purposes or not.  Since Koha directs readers to
Amazon sites for specific items of interest, including those currently
unavailable in their library, my sense is that it's good business for them,
and everybody's happy.  If there was no link, then I would think differently
about it.

It's not as though they expect you to somehow use the images *without*
enhancing your site.

I recently completed some code for integrating Baker & Taylor images to
Koha.  Others have already converted to using Google's images.

So pretty soon we should expect that everybody will have some images from
somewhere.  The next phase of this question will be to allow ajaxy failover
from a ranked menu of possible image sources (both free and
subscription/keyed like B&T or syndetics), as several coders have reported
implementing already.  I imagine the client side code could be common
between many different OPACs.

--joe atzberger

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 3:41 PM, Jay Roos <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I've now been able to implement covers from Google and Amazon in our test
> catalog. Google has many fewer images, they sometimes don't make any sense
> (getting an author photo instead of the cover), and getting them is slow,
> at
> least through the javascript methods posted here recently. However,
> Amazon's
> terms seem unfriendly to libraries since "Your use of the Amazon
> Properties
> must be strictly limited to promoting the availability of products and
> services on the Amazon Website...."
>
> I'd really like to go with Amazon. Is there anyone who has implemented
> Amazon covers in production and who has been using them without issue? How
> do you justify your use when you're really just trying to enhance the
> library experience?
>
> --
> Jay Roos
> Computer & Information Systems Coordinator
> Great River Regional Library
> 405 W. St. Germain
> St. Cloud, MN 56301
>