Hi Rhonda, I quality check every DVD that comes in but I generally have the time to do it, even if it has to run in the background while I finish up any number of other projects.
Out of the 500+ DVDs that have come in since I started checking for quality I have only encountered one problem, but we would not have otherwise known about it! I've found a few quirks but nothing worth sending the video back over. In addition to checking for quality I try to actually watch the videos so that I can advise our professors and contract teachers of the content and handle the inevitable "I remember this video with such and such in it but I don't remember the title" questions that even our search engines can't handle. If you can fit it in I would recommend keeping it up. If it really has become a burden you can check the first five minutes and then handle any problems that might occur later on or just eat the cost of the replacement if it's really bad, although having one bad DVD end up on your shelves unchecked can tarnish your department's reputation if it's a faculty member with a lot of clout who ends up discovering the problem! If your student desk workers have the software on either their personal or work computers you could have them do the quality checks while at the desk (which runs the risk of seeming unprofessional but they really will be working--unless they are busy with circulation duties from shift beginning to end!) Have them use headphones and maybe keep one ear free for patrons (although you run the risk of not identifying those single channel DVDs to warn patrons of ahead of time.) It honestly depends on how worried you are about problems (and the repercussions of problems) and the volume of DVDs that come in per given period of time. Again, I only ever found the one problem out of all the DVDs we've had come in the past couple years so we would have been safe except for that one! I would honestly recommend keeping the practice up but it can be tossed if it truly has become a burden and the personnel who would do it are desperately needed for other things. If you get large amounts of titles for particular departments you could maybe work with those departments to provide extra credit for students willing to preview DVDs in their area of study and set them up in your usual preview space. I have not tried that out myself so I don't know what kind of response you would get or the possible problems involved but it would be a source of otherwise free labor. Otherwise just run the video beginning to end in the background while everything else is going on and watch from the corner of your eye...and I'll admit that with some videos I will tune them out and only watch for technical problems! Best of luck and I hope you can find what works best for you! Chris On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Rosen, Rhonda J. <[email protected]>wrote: > Do you guys quality check every dvd that comes into your collection? We > are finding that this is becoming a burden…we used to use students to > check, but with less and less work study**** > > Hours being available, we are needing students at the counter and not > watching videos…**** > > ** ** > > Is it worth it?**** > > Rhonda**** > > Rhonda Rosen| Head, Media & Access Services > William H. Hannon Library | Loyola Marymount University > One LMU Drive, MS 8200 | Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659 > [email protected]| 310/338-4584| > http://library.lmu.edu**** > > "You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where > people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of > employing wild animals as librarians." > *--Monty Python***** > > **** > > ** ** > > **** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > 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.
