Dear Colleagues:
I want to bring your attention to some problems that I've identified so far with the "Variety Movie Reviews" feature of EbscoHost's Film and Television Literature with Full Text database. Have you or your library's users also encountered problems with it? Here are my observations: Many films that Variety reviewed are not listed at all. Examples include not only foreign films such as "The Color of Pomegranates" (reviewed as "Sayat Nova" on 6/21/1978) but Hollywood studio productions such as the classic "Baby Face" starring Barbara Stanwyck (reviewed 6/27/1933) and "On the Sunny Side" (reviewed 2/04/1942). Most (all?) of the older films incorrectly list January 1 for the review date. To give just one example, the record for "Magnificent Obsession" (reviewed 5/12/1954) lists a date of 1/1/1954. I've spot-checked films from other years, ranging from 1932 to 1987, and have found the same problem on a systematic basis: they list January 1 regardless of the actual review date. I'm not sure what year this problem gets resolved, but by some point in the 1990s it doesn't appear to be an issue any more. Lastly, Ebsco's indexing doesn't link up well between the main database content and the "Variety Movie Reviews" feature. The film "Asik Kerib"/"Ashik Kerib" (reviewed 9/14/1988) doesn't appear when searched in the "Variety Movie Reviews" search interface, but you can find a citation for the review using the default "new search" function. I have found quite a few other examples of this, also from different years. In other words, the different sections of the Film and Television Literature Index aren't talking to each other effectively. I think this is a serious problem: if a user is looking for Variety film reviews specifically, they will probably search first using the "Variety Movie Reviews" button, and they might assume that the citation isn't in the database at all when in fact you can find it in a different section. At any rate, I'd be curious to hear of any experiences you've had with the "Variety Movie Reviews" feature specifically or other aspects of Film and Television Literature with Full Text. Best, James Steffen -- James M. Steffen, PhD Film Studies and Media Librarian Theater and Dance Subject Liaison Marian K. Heilbrun Music and Media Library Emory University 540 Asbury Circle Atlanta, GA 30322-2870 Phone: (404) 727-8107 FAX: (404) 727-2257 Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Web: www.jamesmsteffen.net<http://www.jamesmsteffen.net> ________________________________ This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message (including attachments).
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