Minuteman network swamped

Interesting story today, datelined from Framingham: The Minuteman library network, which lets residents of about two dozen towns and cities (including Waltham and Newton) request material from each other's libraries, has been swamped by requests for CDs and DVDs, which make up about 40% of total requests. According to the article, the backlog forced the network to temporarily suspend CD/DVD requests (books were unaffected.)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: renting DVDs from the Waltham library is one of the best deals in town. $1/week, plus 25 cents per each additional day is something anyone can afford. The selection is great, you can rent CDs and books for free at the same time, and you don't have to deal with Blockbusters tricky rules. The fact that you can rent DVDs from other libraries is icing on the cake. Why bother buying, or attempting to copy DVDs with a resource like this?

Related note: I have to say that in my experience from previous years, the larger Newton Free Library had a more limited and heavily used selection of DVDs and videos. But I haven't attempted to rent from there in ages, maybe the selection there has improved.