Primary Research Group has published Library Use of Video & Audio, ISBN 157440-181-5. The report looks closely at how academic,public and special libraries are acquiring and using their video and audiocollections. It includes data on price discounts received from vendors ofaudio/video materials, cataloging trends, budgets, spending on digitization andupgrades to new formats, trends in licensing and performance rights, staff sizefor AV departments, the influence of emerging mediums such as YouTube and othervideo sharing sites, the development of library video production facilities andmuch more. Among the report’s many findings are that: 10.64% of video spending by the libraries in the sample wasaccounted for by video accessed online or streamed. A mean of 88.26% of library spending on audio-visualresources comes from the departmental budget of the libraries themselves, while7.39% comes from non-library departments, 1.01% from grants and endowments, and3.34% from other sources. 34.69% of the libraries surveyed reached licensing dealswith video suppliers to legally provide digitized versions of their videos to arange of viewers within their organizations. Slightly more than a quarter of the libraries in the samplehave a multimedia studio or center at which library patrons can view and editvideo and learn about the use of new visual and audio mediums. Public libraries havebeen hit hardest by theft o audio/video materials, with a mean loss of $4,343over the past three years. Suggestions by library patrons accounted for a mean of 36.1%of the materials purchasing decisions by the libraries in the sample. Libraries in the sample that distribute videos aboutthemselves and/or their parent organizations determined that a mean of 65% ofviews of these videos originate from links on their websites. Public libraries say that a mean of 15.56% of vendors areopen to price negotiation, while academic libraries feel they can negotiatewith about 30% of their vendors. A pdf version of the report is currently available and aprint version will be available on September 27, 2011. For further information visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com.
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.
