It sounds like you are more concerned about storage space than de-accessioning the tapes. Why? Storage can be negotiated, but once you withdraw the tapes, they are gone forever. Are you saving that space for something more important?
If you have unique and extensive collections, they don't have to be archival to be worth extra consideration. If you put all or some of tapes in storage now, you can reevaluate the situation in five or ten years. Mike Michael May Adult Services Librarian Carnegie-Stout Public Library 360 West 11th Street Dubuque, IA 52001-4697, USA Phone: 563-589-4225 ext. 2244 Fax: 563-589-4217 Email: [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 7:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Videolib] adios vhs? Hi all I think I need input and/or moral support: for various reasons having to do with space and projected library renovation plans here at UCB, I'm taking a hard and fairly ruthless look at the collection. We currently have somewhere around 5K international cinema titles, about 96% of which we've re-bought on DVD. As an alternative to sending these out to storage (thereby completely blowing my storage quota), I am very seriously considering...gulp!...de-accessioning them. This makes me nervous and breaks my heart (for which reasons I'm not exactly sure). Have any of you larger academic collections gone this route? Are there compelling reasons NOT to go down this road? I realize that there are certain benefits to vhs (such as the ability to easily cue) and that some faculty prefer the format, still... For a largely non-archival collection, it seems crazy to hold onto fading formats forever. What do you think? Gary 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. 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.
