Gary, I'm doing basically the same thing with our VHS collection for space reasons. For now I'm focusing on feature films that have newer and better transfers on DVD and titles for which we have multiple copies and/or access options, such as the BBC Shakespeare series. If a title is used a lot for classes (such as CITIZEN KANE), I think it's better to go ahead and get an additional copy on DVD rather than rely on the VHS tape as a fallback.
For me, one additional reason for doing this is that we want to reduce wear and tear on our existing VHS players since decent replacement equipment is getting hard to come by. It's better focus use of the VHS players on content that's absolutely not available on DVD. --James -- James M. Steffen, PhD Film and Media Studies Librarian Theater, Dance, ILA/IDS and LGBT 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] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:05:47 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [Videolib] adios vhs? To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=utf-8 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 ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:33:08 -0400 From: "Mandel, Debra" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] adios vhs? To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <c8e30844.b110%[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hi Gary- I feel your pain. Letting go is hard, but also necessary when space is a premium. I first encountered this format dilemma when CDs came into being and I de-accessioned my LP collection, except for a special jazz gift collection. I felt sentimental about these materials, and we had lots of turntables set up for playback. Shelving space was the prime motivating factor, the new digital world another. It was a long process-some LPS got sold to collectors, some got traded for used CDs, those in bad condition were discarded, and others were donated to the Boston Public Library, which had lost many recordings in a flood. I had anxieties about this, so consulted with music faculty, who even took some. Over time, I replaced the ones most needed for classes and then streaming music databases came into being to help augment the collection. With respect to video, most faculty at Northeastern prefer DVD, particularly for cinema studies classes. As we are also experiencing a space crunch here, (now that the collection is in open stacks) I will be de-accessioning VHS that we have in DVD and selecting DVDS to replace VHS. A special fund is being made available for this. I see no compelling reason to have both a VHS and a DVD copy at this stage. If you have concerns, consult some faculty about particular titles they may want to continue to use in VHS in the classroom or for research. I also sometimes use reserve records to help me make decisions about priorities. I would love to hear other viewpoints about this. Debra On 10/18/10 8:05 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: 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. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment scrubbed and removed. HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests. ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:36:25 -0400 From: Val Gangwer <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] adios vhs? To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hi Gary, As long as your faculty can get their minds around the 'hit stop once' rule on DVDs, they can be cued in a machine to a precise point. That said, there are some titles that are still assigned in classes where I hold on to all copies. For the rest, they will eventually be culled due to space considerations. On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 8:05 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. > -- Valerie Gangwer Media Services Director Mary Baldwin College a...@graftonlibrary #7267 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment scrubbed and removed. HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests. ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:11:37 -0500 From: Michael May <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] adios vhs? To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <ebe85177715016429cdb6649073dfcc20100a4d01...@csplex.dbqpublib.local> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 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. ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:18:47 -0400 From: "Ball, James (jmb4aw)" <[email protected]> Subject: [Videolib] Fountain Tours of Kansas City? To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <b0123513fa2c9044b01d2aa5f48bb3261461e30...@mcclane.eservices.virginia.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi All, I see from the online literature about Kansas City that it's known as the "City of Fountains." Does anyone know if there's any kind of tour of the city that makes stops at some of the more beautiful and interesting fountains? Cheers, Matt ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 [email protected]<https://mail.eservices.virginia.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=62fe60f092584617be4c37bdfc2dcf42&URL=mailto%3amattball%40virginia.edu> | 434-924-3812 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment scrubbed and removed. HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests. End of videolib Digest, Vol 35, Issue 38 **************************************** 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). 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.
