Matt wrote:
A couple of months ago we were talking to an equipment vendor about redoing a
couple of our classrooms (upgrading from Extron, or something like that) and we
were telling him that we'd still need to be able to play VHS and laser discs,
to which he replied, "No you won't, in 5 years everything will be streaming."
All eyes turned to me, probably just to see how red I would get. Not
understanding the needs and mission of your client is one thing, but
contradicting them in another. "Just how do you suppose we'll get our 16,000
VHS tapes streaming?" "Why do you even have them anymore? Can't you just
digitize them?" I started to tell him about how the mission of libraries is
different from the commercial sector, and how there are copyright restrictions,
and besides it would take 15 years etc... but then I realized that we weren't
going to buy anything from this man so why waste my time.
Anyway...
I hear this so often ("In 5 years everything will be streaming") and I wonder
how others feel about this notion. Do you think it's true, and if not how do
you respond?
Keeping in mind that I do both print and media acquisitions, this reminds me of
the time a professor told me that, within 5 years, I would no longer be
purchasing print books. I challenged him at the time, but he was adamant. So
when I got back to the office, I picked up my Palm Pilot and entered the date,
5 years hence, when I would "no longer be buying print books, per Bob." Well,
that day came about 3 years ago. So I said to Bob, "Hey, you know what? I'm
still buying print books, and I've had nary a request for an ebook to this
point."
He REALLY didn't like my calling him on that. Mwahahaha.
I am definitely seeing more interest in streamed video than I am (or ever have)
in ebooks. Still, the streaming we're beginning to do has come at the
initiative of us here in the library, after checking with a few of our heaviest
video reserve users. One or two of them are pretty keen to get started on it
now, but I'm not sure when they'd have gotten around to demanding it, if we
hadn't brought it up first.
We're still holding tight to our VHS, as well, btw. A few years ago I began
the process of upgrading our heaviest-use tapes to DVD, where that was
possible, but then the budget crunch hit, and you know the rest of the story....
Susan at Wabash
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.
