Although I purchase videos for a small 2-year college collection, I am happy to purchase videos that cost under $110.00, let alone $30.00. However, in the case of items from BullFrog, which are very desirable, I cross-examine faculty members up and down, making them promise heavy use, before I purchase, and never pick these expensive items up just because we "should" have them, whether for students or for faculty.
Our library does not shelve our more expensive videos separately from our public collection, however we really restrict how many we purchase -- and would happily purchase more from BullFrog, in particular, if they were not so expensive. Nancy Henwood Media Librarian Camosun College Library 3100 foul Bay Road Victoria, BC, Canada Email: [email protected] www.camosun.ca/library > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: jwoo <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> > Date: Friday, June 24, 2011 12:33 pm > Subject: Re: [Videonews] How do you know when you?ve become an artist? > To: Video Library News <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailt o:[email protected]>> > >> I like this video a lot, but because the institutional price is >> $250, it's in the "rare book" section of my library and students >> never bother to page it for in-library viewing. If the library >> were able to purchase a home-use copy for $30, the video could be >> placed in the circulating section, and I'm sure many more students >> would enjoy and benefit from the production. IMHO, this is how >> filmmakers shoot themselves in the foot. Very few people are going >> to see their work if it's priced for effetes only. >> Gary Handman Director Media Resources Center Moffitt Library UC Berkeley 510-643-8566<tel:510-643-8566> <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mail to:[email protected]> <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC>http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC "I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself." --Francois Truffaut -- Jessica Rosner Media Consultant 224-545-3897 (cell) 212-627-1785 (land line) <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailto:jessica [email protected]> Message: 2 Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:29:48 +0000 From: "Ball, James (jmb4aw)" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] How do you know when you've become an artist?] Fair Pricing for Independent Documentaries To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <302d2154cd0ea448aef4b356e8605427141...@wilson.eservices.virginia.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Oops, I didn't check the reply to button carefully enough. Sorry everyone. But hey, there's a good question embedded in there about volume sales anyway, so feel free to answer if you like. M- ______________________________ Matt Ball Media Services Librarian University of Virginia [email protected]<https://mail.eservices.virginia.edu/owa/redir.aspx ?C=f9bb9e66e0cb45eb9c98da126198ad7e&URL=mailto%3amattball%40virginia.edu > 434-924-3812 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ball, James (jmb4aw) Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 4:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Videolib] How do you know when you've become an artist?] Fair Pricing for Independent Documentaries Hi Elizabeth, Sorry for my tardy reply. I always think that summer is going to be the time when I get SOOOooo much done, but for some reason my summer months seem busier than the rest of the school year. Anyway, as I speak with more distributors I'm getting a better feel for their (your) business models, which is good because the more I know the more I know (as my mom used to say). It seems like the sticking point is usually that, because of the niche market for these kinds of videos, there simply isn't the guarantee of volume sales that would make lowering a price from $300.00 to $30.00 reasonable. Is that true for you, or is your situation different? Cheers, Matt ________________________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> | 434-924-3812 ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Elizabeth Stanley [[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 12:28 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Videolib] How do you know when you've become an artist?] Fair Pricing for Independent Documentaries Hello, Matt, You've got my attention. Let's talk. Elizabeth Bullfrog Films 800-543-3764 ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ball, James (jmb4aw) Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 10:13 AM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] How do you know when you've become an artist?] A lot of the collecting I do is based on faculty requests but they're requesting Glee and Twilight. An equally large chunk of the collecting I do, though, is based on what I think we *should* have to support broader curricular needs, and a lot of that comes from distributors like Bullfrog, Icarus, Women Make Movies, etc. But those titles are so expensive that I can only afford to buy a few per year. However, if independent documentary filmmakers sold their films for $30.00 each I would increase my total purchases from them times ten, probably more. I'm not kidding. Nothing would make me happier than flipping through catalogs with a shiny red marker circling all of the titles I would love to have. For me, I would be getting amazing content at a cost that aligns with a pricing model that's supportable under the constraints of my institution's collection development strategies and budget priorities. For the filmmakers and distributors it means that I would be buying more titles, possibly multiple copies, of videos that I wouldn't have even considered before, and if I'm willing to do that then I bet there are at least four other media librarians who'd do the same. There, the filmmakers are still making money (maybe more) and the visibility of their films has increased five-fold. Or is it four? Anyway, you see my point. Elizabeth, Meredith, Karen, are you interested? $30.00 per title, no PPR, and I promise to buy at least 10 times the number of titles I bought last year. Or perhaps there's another mutually beneficial pricing model out there... Matt ______________________________ Matt Ball Media and Collections Librarian University of Virginia [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> 434-924-3812 On Jun 24, 2011, at 8:13 PM, "Jessica Rosner" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: As someone who works with independent documentary filmmakers, let me tell you they would be THRILLED to sell their films at $25 or $30 if they had a chance in hell of selling 5 times as many as they would at $250. The subject matter is generally geared towards the academic community or at least not to the popular topics that sell in the thousands and they have a lot of expenses to recoup and it is a bitch to distribute. These are simply not the same as the more popular $19.95 to $29.95 videos you will find at the retail level and keep in mind the distributor only gets back 60% or so on thing sold through third parties like Amazon. I assure you if 1500 institutions would actually buy a wonderful series of films on the post genocide justice system in Rwanda or even one on Gerrymandering ( to plug the ones I deal with) the directors would be over the moon to sell them for $25 knowing more people could see them. When good documentaries are carried by public libraries at a fraction of the rate of bad action movies then you will see a huge drop in prices, heck if just one in every 500 university libraries bought them you would see the same. On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 7:31 PM, <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: [Videonews] How do you know when you've become an artist? From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Date: Fri, June 24, 2011 4:31 pm To: "Video Library News" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Problem isn't solved if the expensive title they've taken out and lost is out of distribution. All depends on the mission of your collection (and whether preservation for long-haul to support teaching and research is part of it) Gary (who's cool in Berkeley) > At the University of Southern California we have in our collection > at least 750 documentary films costing $250 or more. And no effetism > here. All such films fully circulate. And if a student happens > to lose such an item then said student is fully obliged to reimburse the > costs of the film. Problem solved--and it is a policy that seems > very much to work for us. > > And greetings from ALA and New Orleans! > > Cheers! > Anthony > > ******************************* > Anthony E. Anderson > Social Studies and Arts & Humanities Librarian > Von KleinSmid Library > University of Southern California > Los Angeles, CA 90089-0182 > (213) 740-1190<tel:%28213%29%20740-1190> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > "Wind, regen, zon, of kou, > Albert Cuyp ik hou van jou." > ********************************* 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.
