James, thank you for a clear statement of problems using this database. While we do not yet subscribe to Film and Television Literature Index it is a product we are interested in.
What has been the response from EBSCO regarding these issues? Do they offer any explanations? -deg -- deg farrelly, Full Librarian Arizona State University PO Box 37100 Phoenix, Arizona 85069-7100 Phone: 602.543.8522 Email: [email protected] Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 16:16:15 -0400 From: "Steffen, James M" <[email protected]> Subject: [Videolib] Problems with Variety Movie Reviews in Film and Television Literature Index 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. 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.
