My public library serves about 60,000 people. Our small but growing collection of 450 Blu-rays have circulated 15,685 times since July 2008. I've overheard patrons say things like "Wow, this is cool!" and "I can't believe the library has Blu-rays!" No one complains that we didn't wait for some tipping point; rather, our patrons seem to have higher expectations of our collections in part because we have Blu-rays.
Blu-rays have not ruined our budget, and they haven't caused us to do "a half-bleep job of selecting" or to "serve two masters," whatever that means. We certainly do not intend to replace our 11,228 DVDs with Blu-rays, which is plainly ridiculous. I have worked in an academic library and know how demanding and unreasonable some faculty can be, but I have trouble believing that a small, supplemental collection of Blu-rays would require every single classroom on campus to be retrofitted with Blu-ray players. But yeah, I guess I have been over thinking it. Like an I.T. guy told me once, "It's a library, not a hospital. Nobody's gonna die if you get it wrong." 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] ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Griest, Bryan [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 11:37 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Videolib] "In 5 years everything will be streaming." Mike, My own policy in not buying Blu-Rays has to do with sheer numbers. My community has not reached, and may not ever reach, that tipping point where a majority of patrons own the new hardware, and seeing as how I don’t have infinite funds, I have chosen not to do a half-bleep job of selecting in both formats. I would rather continue buying the wider variety of the single format that all of my patrons have than try to serve both masters. If streaming takes over the market before Blu-Ray reaches the tipping point, so be it; I don’t care, really. I’m led by what my patrons can use now. I’m probably Captain Obvious, but it maybe you’ve been overthinking it? Bryan Griest Glendale Public Library From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael May Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 9:14 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Videolib] "In 5 years everything will be streaming." Thanks for your comments, Dennis. I like to think that I have some inkling of where home media is headed, but I guess I don’t understand librarians’ resistance to Blu-ray. We seem to agree that the statement “everything will be streaming in 5 years” is at best an oversimplification, but then we turn around and argue that we should hold off on Blu-ray because we’re waiting for streaming. Blu-ray does seem like a trendy commercial gimmick driven by major studios, and I believe it when people say we’re losing the depth and quality of films on 16mm and VHS and DVD which will never make it to Blu-ray or streaming. But how does not collecting Blu-ray improve that situation, especially if we’re “waiting for streaming” anyway? Why not encourage a diversity of filmmakers and studios by collecting their Blu-rays as they become available, instead of rejecting the entire format? The primary mission of some libraries is to focus on patron demand and popular entertainment, not preservation or even education. If my library did not supplement popular DVDs with Blu-rays, we’d have to buy more copies on DVD, so the problem faced when trying to collect broadly and deeply has more to do with patron demand than what format we are buying with limited budgets. Of course I am not saying libraries with popular collections should not try to collect broadly and deeply, or that Blu-ray will replace DVD, or even that Blu-ray will last more than a few years. My only point is that rejecting the entire format outright is as foolhardy as buying into it wholeheartedly. Mike in Dubuque From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dennis Doros Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 3:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Videolib] "In 5 years everything will be streaming." Well, Mike, with Netflix's price re-structuring and their unwillingness to carry DVDs of small titles, I'm still sticking with my opinion that the big corporations (studios, Apple, etc.) are moving towards streaming for home media. Will I be happy about it? God no -- I still love my laserdisc machine even if it hasn't been hooked up to the television for the last couple years. And my BluRay player does make my films better (I take the uncompressed HD files of my films and burn BluRays to watch upstairs for my own enjoyment) than any other technology can except projecting a brand-new 35mm print at home. We almost got standing ovations when we showed our 2-minute BluRay clip of our next restoration at panels. But I do agree that libraries have a sacred trust to preserve their video AND their film -- especially those 16mm prints that many libraries threw out. Will any of us be 100% right in five years time with the technology moving so quickly? I'm still hoping that they'll get that cure for Alzheimer's going so I can remember the question by then. :-) Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> www.milestonefilms.com<http://www.milestonefilms.com/> www.ontheboweryfilm.com<http://www.ontheboweryfilm.com/> www.arayafilm.com<http://www.arayafilm.com/> www.exilesfilm.com<http://www.exilesfilm.com/> www.wordisoutmovie.com<http://www.wordisoutmovie.com/> www.killerofsheep.com<http://www.killerofsheep.com/> AMIA Austin 2011: www.amianet.org<http://www.amianet.org/> Join "Milestone Film" on Facebook! Follow Milestone on Twitter!<http://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms> On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 4:22 PM, Michael May <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Sorry, this is a more direct link: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg02321.html > Re: [Videolib] Blu-Ray in libraries > > ghandman > Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:50:51 -0700 > > Check back with me in five years, Dennis... > > Bluray = BetaMax > > gary Shouldn't we be as wary of rejecting technology as we are of buying into it? Mike -----Original Message----- From: Michael May Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 3:10 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [Videolib] "In 5 years everything will be streaming." About the "abject stupidity of the '5 year' statement," see http://goo.gl/3qcTJ. Mike in Dubuque -----Original Message----- From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 2:14 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Videolib] "In 5 years everything will be streaming." I think the copious discussion regarding out of distribution video on this list is pretty much an indication of the abject stupidity of the "5 year" statement. I also think that, as I've ranted endlessly on this list, one of the major jobs of a video librarian (of any librarian, really) is to hold the line against procrusteanism (i.e. making sure that the head and the feet don't get cut off to match the size of the bed). I think it is becoming increasingly common for technology to dictate content, and that's a really nasty direction to take. Library administrators and tech salesmen aren't always that far apart in their witting (or unwitting) buy-in to this trend. gary > Hi All, > > 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? > > Cheers, > > Matt > > ______________________________ > Matt Ball > Media Services Librarian > University of Virginia > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><https://mail.eservices.virginia.edu/owa/redir.as > px?C=f9bb9e66e0cb45eb9c98da126198ad7e&URL=mailto%3amattball%40virginia > .edu> > 434-924-3812<tel:434-924-3812> > > 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. > Gary Handman Director Media Resources Center Moffitt Library UC Berkeley 510-643-8566<tel:510-643-8566> [email protected]<mailto:[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. -- 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.
