Maybe we should have a contest to see who has experienced the most bizarre IT decision. My entry is our ITS department's current plan to put fiber optics in our Media Center/ Computer lab space including the small room our custodians use to store toilet paper. Can anyone top that? Pat
Patricia B. McGee Coordinator of Media Services Volpe Library and Media Center Tennessee Tech University (931) 372-3544 From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of John Streepy Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 4:58 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: Re: [Videolib] campus support for VHS A little off topic, but in academia have you noticed that IT departments can unilaterally make decisions and do what ever they want, no questions asked, ever, no matter what the impact. But if the Library makes a decision, all faculty (whether or not the decision impacts them or not) go into conniption mode and act like the Librarians are complete morons rather than information professionals. I know a vast generalization, but how many have been impacted by a similar situation. jhs John H. Streepy Media Services Supervisor Library-Media Circulation James E. Brooks Library Central Washington University 400 East University Way Ellensburg, WA 98926-7548 (509) 963-2861 http://www.lib.cwu.edu/media "Hand to hand combat just goes with the territory. All part of being a librarian" -- James Turner "Rex Libris" Transitus profusum est nocens! >>> Jeanne Little <jeanne.lit...@uni.edu> 4/1/2010 2:32 PM >>> Beth, I cannot believe in an academic or educational setting, that technology staff are not educated in the ways of copyright! It boggles my mind. But then, quite a few things do... We went through a similar experience back in 2000 when our IT department decided not to mess with this any longer and gave our library every 8mm, 16mm, beta, umatic, and vhs copy they had. (Then stopped supplying viewing equipment to classrooms). Guess who got the task of sorting this mess out? I will give our IT department credit, they have come up to speed over the last decade and know they cannot convert anything from a library-owned title when it is brought in by a faculty, staff, or student without our library's permission. What is done with personal items, I don't know. Maybe it's late in the day, and my office is 82 degrees and rising, and I can't even open a window, but I am feeling pretty testy with those who think just because they can, they can. Good luck A crash course in copyright for all sounds like just the ticket. Jeanne Little Rod Library University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa On 4/1/2010 2:10 PM, Beth Traylor wrote: > Hello All, > > We just found out through an article published in our campus paper that > our campus equipment unit will no longer be supporting VHS in the > classrooms because it is too hard to fix the VHS decks and because "DVD > equipment is easier to use than tape decks; DVDs are more portable; they > are more reliable etc.". > > They also advertised in that same article that they will convert all VHS > tapes that faculty use to DVD. > They never mentioned anything about copyright - just that "because its > for educational use then its ok to do the conversion (for a price)." As > far as I can tell they never talked to campus legal either. > > Needless to say we were surprised (we have over 5000 VHS tapes in our > Media collection). > > Has any other Media unit dealt with this? I seem to remember this > thread but could not find it in the archives. > > Any help would be appreciated. Please feel free to contact me off the > list too if you would like. > > > Beth Traylor > Media Librarian > UW-Milwaukee > > > > 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 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.
