Re: [Videolib] Yale's VHS Collecting

[Troy Davis]

Dear David,
Very cool. Thanks for this.

Troy


On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 12:46 PM, Gary, David david.g...@yale.edu wrote:

  Dear List,
  I wanted to respond to concerns over the Yale Daily News article about
 our recent VHS acquisition.  The way the YDN reporter wrote the story was
 unfortunate.  I was very clear with her about what was unique about Yale's
 VHS collecting, but that nuance did not make its way into the piece.  For
 the record, we are not the first institution collecting VHS.  But here is
 what I think is unique about this effort:

  What is key is that we are actively collecting VHS for its historic
 value as a format.  If I am wrong about anyone currently purchasing VHS for
 its specific value as a format, I’d like to know. Collections, like Yale’s,
 that were once full of VHS, have largely transitioned over to DVD and now
 Blu-ray, indicating that the thing being collected is the movie, not so
 much the format.  What we’re doing is giving VHS a pride of place that it
 doesn’t currently have anywhere except in the world of private collectors.
 We are saying that VHS tapes can merit special collections status. In fact,
 since this story was published, I have received two e-mails from academic
 librarians asking me if I wanted to take on their VHS collections, which
 they are deaccessioning.  This has been the prevailing practice for over a
 decade, and the goal of this project to stop that way of thinking—or at
 least get people to reconsider it. From the boxes, labels, trailers, and
 cuts of the movies, what we have brought in is unique and historically
 valuable.  So, while many library collections in the country have tapes, I
 think it is almost certainly true that this is the only specific effort to
 collect VHS as a historical medium.

  Best,

  David Gary, PhD, MLS
  Kaplanoff Librararian for American History
  Yale University
  Sterling Memorial Library




-- 
Troy Davis | (757) 279-8871
Swem Library
http://guides.swem.wm.edu/media
t...@wm.edu
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues 
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, 
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and 
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective 
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication 
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and 
distributors.

[Videolib] Yale's VHS Collecting

[Gary, David]

Dear List,
I wanted to respond to concerns over the Yale Daily News article about our 
recent VHS acquisition.  The way the YDN reporter wrote the story was 
unfortunate.  I was very clear with her about what was unique about Yale's VHS 
collecting, but that nuance did not make its way into the piece.  For the 
record, we are not the first institution collecting VHS.  But here is what I 
think is unique about this effort:

What is key is that we are actively collecting VHS for its historic value as a 
format.  If I am wrong about anyone currently purchasing VHS for its specific 
value as a format, I’d like to know. Collections, like Yale’s, that were once 
full of VHS, have largely transitioned over to DVD and now Blu-ray, indicating 
that the thing being collected is the movie, not so much the format.  What 
we’re doing is giving VHS a pride of place that it doesn’t currently have 
anywhere except in the world of private collectors.  We are saying that VHS 
tapes can merit special collections status. In fact, since this story was 
published, I have received two e-mails from academic librarians asking me if I 
wanted to take on their VHS collections, which they are deaccessioning.  This 
has been the prevailing practice for over a decade, and the goal of this 
project to stop that way of thinking—or at least get people to reconsider it. 
From the boxes, labels, trailers, and cuts of the movies, what we have brought 
in is unique and historically valuable.  So, while many library collections in 
the country have tapes, I think it is almost certainly true that this is the 
only specific effort to collect VHS as a historical medium.

Best,

David Gary, PhD, MLS
Kaplanoff Librararian for American History
Yale University
Sterling Memorial Library
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues 
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, 
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and 
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective 
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication 
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and 
distributors.