Dear List, I wanted to respond to concerns over the Yale Daily News article about our recent VHS acquisition. The way the YDN reporter wrote the story was unfortunate. I was very clear with her about what was unique about Yale's VHS collecting, but that nuance did not make its way into the piece. For the record, we are not the first institution collecting VHS. But here is what I think is unique about this effort:
What is key is that we are actively collecting VHS for its historic value as a format. If I am wrong about anyone currently purchasing VHS for its specific value as a format, I’d like to know. Collections, like Yale’s, that were once full of VHS, have largely transitioned over to DVD and now Blu-ray, indicating that the thing being collected is the movie, not so much the format. What we’re doing is giving VHS a pride of place that it doesn’t currently have anywhere except in the world of private collectors. We are saying that VHS tapes can merit special collections status. In fact, since this story was published, I have received two e-mails from academic librarians asking me if I wanted to take on their VHS collections, which they are deaccessioning. This has been the prevailing practice for over a decade, and the goal of this project to stop that way of thinking—or at least get people to reconsider it. From the boxes, labels, trailers, and cuts of the movies, what we have brought in is unique and historically valuable. So, while many library collections in the country have tapes, I think it is almost certainly true that this is the only specific effort to collect VHS as a historical medium. Best, David Gary, PhD, MLS Kaplanoff Librararian for American History Yale University Sterling Memorial Library
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.
