Salado Public Library is the only movie store in town as well. We have over 3000 DVDs & VHSs in our collection of 22,000 items (15% of our collection). As of last year our circulation figures for movies amounted to nearly 36% of our overall circulation. We do have budget amounts for both childrens, teen and adult collection movies.
Salado's movie collection includes R rated movies. We shelve only PG and G rated movies in the children's area and they are not marked. We have a teen/YA section of movies that includes PG-13 movies. All of the PG-13 movies carry a bright yellow PG-13 sticker placed prominently (by us) on the front of the cover. We purchase R rated movies. They are shelved in the general movie section. Any R rated movies have a bright red R sticker on the front. Although ALA frowns on putting the ratings on the cases we do it to provide parents with an easy way to see what their child is viewing. We do have rating information in our catalog records as well. We do not restrict access to the movies. Occassionaly a parent will complain or comment. If instructed by the parent we place a note on the child's record that pops up at checkout stating that they cannot checkout rated movies. Hope this helps, Marsha ----- Original Message ----- From: Suzan Nyfeler To: Jan Steele ; CTLS Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 11:08 AM Subject: Re: [ctls-l] Movies in Libraries Friends - Jan Steele in Lago Vista asks the following: Could we ask other libraries how they handle ratings? Do they include ratings on spine labels and/or in catalog details? What about children or teens wanting to check out PG-13 or R-rated movies. Jan Steele Librarian/Director Lago Vista Public Library [email protected] Jan - My short answer is: Strive to maintain the library's traditional role of protecting privacy and advocating open access for everyone. Set in writing what you buy and why you buy it (translation - have good policies). Err on the side of openness. Buy what you think your community needs. Don't restrict based on age. Avoid acting in loco parentis. And finally, consider my opinion - and the advice listed below - in light of your community's needs. Review ALA's interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights for movie access for children and labeling and rating systems. TLA has a Texas twist on the issue in their Intellectual Freedom Handbook. Within the TLA Intellectual Freedom Handbook is A MODEL LIBRARY CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY which states, "The Constitution of the State of Texas provides that "no law shall ever be passed curtailing the liberty of speech or of the press". A corollary of those constitutional guarantees is the corresponding freedom to read what is written, hear what is spoken, and view other forms of expression without fear of intrusion, intimidation or reprisal. The guarantee of privacy for readers, hearers and viewers will ensure this freedom." MPAA ratings are not a governmental system and are in fact one of several private ratings systems, with no force of law. ALA's position is that libraries should not include MPAA ratings in their bibliographic record. I believe an argument can be made that this is common information regularly associated with movies. People know many movies have MPAA ratings and may look for that as they search your catalog. The upshot of all of these is: 1.. The library provides materials for a wide range of users 2.. Parents control what their children can borrow/see/read, not the library 3.. Using age to restrict the use of any library materials is not OK 4.. Deleting or adding rating system info to a movie case is not OK. Most of the time it's there anyway. 5.. Policies that restrict who can check out a movie based on its ratings are not OK Libraries do, however, sometimes have policies that do not allow children under 17 from checking out an R-rated movie. No matter what, local situations require local solutions. Much food for thought. Our CTLS libraries will have more info to guide us. --Suzan Nyfeler CTLS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Laurie Mahaffey Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:31 AM To: Suzan Nyfeler Subject: FW: Movies in Libraries This came in late yesterday. Want to reply? Or we can throw it out to CTLS-L. Thanks. L. Laurie Mahaffey, Deputy Director Central Texas Library System, Inc. 1005 West 41st Street Austin, Texas 78756 www.ctls.net [email protected] 512-583-0704 x18 800-262-4431 x18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Jan Steele [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 5:46 PM To: Laurie Mahaffey Subject: RE: Movies in Libraries Laurie, Thanks for your reply. Your question about ratings is a good one. Could we ask other libraries how they handle ratings? Do they include ratings on spine labels and/or in catalog details? What about children or teens wanting to check out PG-13 or R-rated movies. Jan Steele Librarian/Director Lago Vista Public Library 5803 Thunderbird, Suite 40 Lago Vista, TX 78645 (512) 267-3868 [email protected] From: Laurie Mahaffey [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 3:32 PM To: Jan Steele Cc: Suzan Nyfeler Subject: RE: Movies in Libraries Hi, Jan! Great question! Yes, most of our libraries offer movies on DVD. We could ask on CTLS-L if you wish to determine just how many. I'm including Suzan in this reply because she can speak to the legal issues. As I understand it, unless you are showing the DVDs at the library (a public performance), the library is not responsible for what the patrons do in their own homes with the materials. Or are you asking about ratings? Last month, I visited La Grange, and their video store had closed recently. The store offered the library some of their collection. The library suddenly became The Place to get movies, and they were doing a brisk business. Budgets vary in complexity. Some libraries will have a line item for DVDs and others will just include the purchasing of them in "library materials". Take care. Laurie Laurie Mahaffey, Deputy Director Central Texas Library System, Inc. 1005 West 41st Street Austin, Texas 78756 www.ctls.net [email protected] 512-583-0704 x18 800-262-4431 x18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Jan Steele [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 3:25 PM To: Laurie Mahaffey Subject: Movies in Libraries Laurie, Do most libraries in our area offer movies on DVD in their collections. If so, do they have a special budget for purchasing them? I would imagine circulation statistics of movies would be high. Are there any legal issues to be aware of in offering them in a public library? We have always had a collection of children's videos and a few DVDs, but not many adult movies. We've never had a budget for movies, so we depended on donated copies. Since the only video store in town closed down, we have begun to offer a collection of movies for adults. As expected, the collection is very popular. Jan Steele Librarian/Director Lago Vista Public Library 5803 Thunderbird, Suite 40 Lago Vista, TX 78645 (512) 267-3868 [email protected]
