Here at the inner city (Providence) campus of the Community College of Rhode Island we have 2700+ DVDs and videos - both documentaries and feature films. We also have a collection of about 350 music CDs - jazz, classical, blues/folk, and world music. All our AV materials are on open shelves. We have had very little theft. AV materials circulate for a week at a time and can be renewed, so there's not much reason to steal the material. We also circulate our AV materials to the entire Rhode Island HELIN (Higher Education Library Information Network) consortium, which includes Brown, Bryant University, Johnson & Wales University, Providence College, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University, Salve Regina University, the University of Rhode Island, and Wheaton College.
While theft is not a big problem, it's sometimes a problem getting folks to return the material on time. At least when it's checked out, we have a record in the database and can bill for late material. (About 4 years ago we had a student check out 40 DVDs over the course of a week or so (we had no limit on borrowing), and he never returned them. A number of them showed up for sale on the street, and were returned to us by folks who had bought them. Of course, we billed the student and put holds on his records at the registrar's office, but he has never returned to school, so we'll never see the rest of those films again. However, they were all properly checked out to him and not stolen off the shelves.) When we began collecting AV material, we bought 3-M tattle strips, but when we ran out we did not buy more. They were unnecessary and expensive. Dusty Haller Dorcas Haller Librarian/Professor/Department Chair Community College of Rhode Island Library One Hilton Street, Providence, RI 02905 dhal...@ccri.edu<mailto:dhal...@ccri.edu> Phone: 401-455-6085 Fax: 401-455-6087 From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Moshiri, Farhad Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 9:41 AM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] unsecured AV in open access area Dear all, Are any one of you working in an academic library with open shelves for AV materials(DVDs/CDs) that are not secured with either locked cases or security layers attached to the discs? I'm talking about educational/documentaries not feature films. Have you lost items in this situation? In what rate (how many per year)? My boss is asking me if it is worthed to secure the whole collection if the cost of replacing a few lost items per year can do the job instead. Almost all our CDs are Classical music. Few classic Jazz CDs and some world music. No popular music. Should I secure them? Thanks. Farhad Moshiri Audiovisual Librarian University of the Incarnate Word San Antonio, TX ________________________________ This email and any files transmitted with it may be confidential or contain privileged information and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this email and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately delete the email and any attachments from your system and notify the sender. Any other use of this e-mail is prohibited. Thank you for your compliance.
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.
