First they came for the 16mm films, then they came for the VHS tapes . . . Some VHS titles will never be available on DVD. Call a meeting/symposium/focus group-IT should not be able to make a decision like this without discussing with other constituencies (Library, faculty, etc.)
From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Hutchison, Jane Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 11:27 AM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: Re: [Videolib] Confronting a campus wide VHS DEATH Deadline At the CCUMC conference last week in Las Vegas there was an excellent workshop on VHS Retirement: Strategies from Multiple Institutions. Also discussion from a variety of perspectives from going analog to digital as well as discussion in the Collection Development and Management Interest Group. Our proceedings will be online shortly. This may be one way to begin, that is, to get a variety of perspectives and strategies. At our institution, we are not removing VHS/DVD players from our classrooms. We still have a number in stock when one goes, we replace. We too have a large VHS collection to support. Slowly, I have been replacing our most popular titles on DVD or streaming whenever possible. It is a slow task and also an expensive one to say the least. This is a much larger transition than when we went from ¾" to VHS because VHS has been in existence much longer and the titles were relatively cheap so our collections blew up in size. I would encourage you to have VHS players on hand for faculty to check out to take to the classrooms to connect and use as needed if they indeed are being removed. You can try to ask IT to keep them in the rooms as long as they are operational. When they die, that's when they replace them. Consider going to CCUMC next year as I'm sure it might be helpful in dealing with these issues. The conference will be held in Chicago. Regards, Jane Jane B. Hutchison Associate Director Instruction & Research Technology 300 Pompton Road Wayne, NJ 07470 (w)973-720-2980 (cell) 973-418-7727 From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Seay, Jared Alexander Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 10:48 AM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] Confronting a campus wide VHS DEATH Deadline Greetings, I have an issue of which I would like some advice. Recently, our IT department (bless 'em) for our university announced that as of May 6 of next year it would be pulling all VHS VCR players out of all classrooms, including dual (DVD/VHS) players and would no longer be supplying or supporting any of these players. DVD could still be played on the existing classroom instructor's computer of course. The bombshell was dropped on the faculty. To be sure, we have long been living with the long, slow death of VHS, and we (or at least I) have expected this death to be a lingering one as far as the library is concerned anyway. We have a significant collection of VHS tapes still and have about a dozen players in the library to play them. We have been slowly replacing the collection with DVD (no Blu-Ray), but still have some heavily used VHS titles. I certainly understand the IT department's point of view, especially considering our cash-strapped state of late. They are looking for ways to not pay for or maintain "unnecessary" equipment. VHS is a likely target. However, you can imagine the effect this announcement has had on our faculty when they were suddenly told that that "if you have VHS tapes that you show in your classes, you will need to find replacements by May 6, 2013." IT also mentioned the coming "analog sunset, "which has evoked memories of the dreaded Y2K of earlier times (remember that apocalypse?). VHS death went from a lingering, gradual one (to which we seem to be slowly adapting) to a quick bullet to the head. Actually, it's more like a bomb tossed into a crowd at the moment. We are getting frantic requests to digitize VHS tapes or "replace everything with DVD and streaming" as well as a general perception of "what do we do now?" Obviously, this is a perfect opportunity for our library to sweep in, calm all nerves, gently explain the situation to faculty and administration, and save the day as the information/video/media professionals that we are. Still, I was hoping to get some input from other media librarians out there who are or have been through or into this lately. How are your libraries handling this? By "this" I mean transitioning between VHS and DVD and (in our case at least) facing an institution that is now declaring an entire format obsolete and un-usable by early next year. Of course it involves copying issues, collection development, streaming, and you name it. At the very least it means the library taking a leadership role (and producing a working plan) to get the institution through this great transition crisis. Just want some crowd sourced wisdom to get me started. A juicy problem this one. Thanks. j Jared Alexander Seay Reference Librarian Head, Media Collections Addlestone Library College of Charleston Charleston SC 29424 Main Office: 843-953-1428 blogs.cofc.edu/seayj/<http://blogs.cofc.edu/seayj/> Media Collections: 843-953-8040 blogs.cofc.edu/media collections<http://blogs.cofc.edu/mediacollections/> Addlestone Report: blogs.cofc.edu/addlestonereport<http://blogs.cofc.edu/addlestonereport/> Reference Services: blogs.cofc.edu/refblog<http://blogs.cofc.edu/refblog/>
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.
