The "7 Deadly Sins of Library Video Colleting" Published by Facets Video
"7 Deadly Sins of Library Video Collecting", a free 4-page brochure
published by
Facets Video, has the goal of offering recovery for fallen librarians
everywhere. The guide promises to "wash away every guilty librarian's video
sins and cleanse their cinematic soul in the river of redemption."
The brochure is a seven point, step-by-step guide to aid and
encourage
librarians to build their video collections into museums of the moving
image, rather than replicas of commercial chain store collections which some
have become.
The guide draws on Facets Video's 20 years of experience in helping
libraries develop significant collections of art films and documentaries on
video. In a simple, down-to-earth, sometimes tongue-in-cheek language, it
shows librarians exactly what NOT to do in seven easy steps. This ranges
from the cardinal deadly sin of "forgetting that you're a library, NOT a
video store" to collection-building misapprehensions such as "the assumption
that Spike Lee is the only African-American who's ever made a film."
To explain the mistake of going the commercial route of video
stores,
Facets advises that "Video stores and video chains which service the mass
market do what they do better than you ever will. Competing for umpteenth
copies of the latest mega-blockbuster just because it "racks up" high
circulation points is a futile direction."
With the advent of the home video revolution, most libraries
increased
their holdings and built significant circulation for their new video
collections. But "libraries, which will otherwise take great care to stock
library shelves full of literary classics from Shakespeare to Toni Morrison
will often completely ignore the essential masterworks of cinema from von
Stroheim's Greed to Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion," says Brian McCaskill, the
director of educational services at Facets Video. "In a society shackled by
corporate video chains that determine which art will survive based on
cultural, economic and literal censorship, our libraries have become the
last bastions of hope."
The "7 Deadly Sins of Library Video Collecting" includes a brief listing of
resources to aid librarians in developing video collections which are "sin
free." These include a number of other Facets publications, including the
recently published list of "Core Library Foreign Video collection" which
describes essential works of world cinema that should be on every library
shelf.
Copies of either the "7 Deadly Sins of Library Video Collecting" or "Core
Library Foreign Video Colletion" are available free from Facets Video at
1-800-331-6197, [EMAIL PROTECTED], or Facets Video, 1517 West Fullerton
Avenue, Chicago, ILL 60614
Facets Video is the world's largest, unique collection of foreign, classic
American, independent, experimental, documentary, cult, fine arts and
quality children's videos and DVDs. In addition to representing over 55,000
titles from over 1100 manufacturers, including many independents, Facets
also distributes a line of videos and DVDs on its own, licensed Facets Video
label.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The entire FACETS VIDEO CATALOG is online at www.facets.org! Search for
titles, directors, genres, and more from over 35,000 items!
-----------------------------------------------------------
FACETS MULTI-MEDIA, INC.
1517 W. FULLERTON AVE.
CHICAGO, IL 60614
---------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Include in body: unsubscribe ctls-l
For information on CTLS-L please visit:
http://www.ctls.net/document/ctls-l.htm
