Hi Benjamin You've asked a question that's difficult to answer as posed.
Alexander St. press offers what are pitched as "curated" collections: i.e. collections of topically-related or genre-related materials selected by "a body of experts". As I've written ad nauseum, I have real problems with such "whole cloth" collections, mainly because the value, appositeness, and use of individual titles in such collections seems to vary widely. In short, although there are generally interesting and valuable titles in such collections, there's also a lot of filler--stuff that is of more questionable value and which is unlikely to ever be used. The buyer has no choice but to take the whole enchilada. We have the ASP Ethnographic Film, and Theatre collections. My anecdotal sense is that neither is used all that much (the former is used more than the latter), despite my best efforts to beat the drums. Beyond that, we have about 100 individually licensed titles from various distributors. Many of these are used fairly heavily, primarily because they were acquired in the first place in response to articulated curricula need/want...in other words, we generally license stuff for streaming for good reason: big classes, repeated use, explicitly expressed interest. gary handman > Dear Colleagues, > > > > I was wondering if you could share your experiences with streaming > video, such as Alexander Street Press. I am interested in matters such > as the following: > > > > * Are such services well used by students and faculty members? > * Do you purchase streaming videos outright, or do you lease them, > or a combination of both? > * How do you promote streaming videos, if at all? > * Would you recommend other libraries purchasing such > subscriptions? > > > > Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated. > > > > Sincerely, > > Benjamin Turner > > Assistant Professor, Instructional Services > > St. John's University Libraries > > [email protected] > > 718.990.5562 > > > > 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. > Gary Handman Director Media Resources Center Moffitt Library UC Berkeley 510-643-8566 [email protected] http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC "I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself." --Francois Truffaut 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.
