This discussion reminded me of an event in my freshman year. Kenneth Clark's Civilisation series had recently been shown on TV, I think, but not many undergrads had (or cared to have, except maybe at 6 pm) television access. The university sponsored a showing of the series as films projected on the big screen--where the images were ravishing and the event really had a community feeling (definitely more than 50 people there every evening!). I suppose they rented rather than purchased the films. (A few years later, my husband and I bonded over a similar showing of the restored Astaire-Rogers RKO films.)
Since Civilisation was I think long featured in Ambrose Media's collection, I think of that when I think of the combination of institutional price + limited PPR that Ambrose sells. Of course showing a videotape of an older series to 50 students is not at all the same as the "event" quality I am recalling. Nowadays the event tends to be the actual broadcast, which gathers people in common areas with TV viewing (or something like the Met's HD opera broadcasts, which form local & virtual communities). But memories like that do lead me to support the idea of film societies *with budgets*! Judy Shoaf
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.
