Other responses made me think of a few other considerations. We do have a limited number of materials (primarily DVD and a few VHS) that we don't shelve in the open stacks. Titles that are heavily used for course/research support and are out of print or extremely pricey, some of the unusually (and surprisingly) expensive titles, and the occasional title that has been purchased with some use restrictions are kept on a "permanent reserve" status. They will still circulate out of the library to faculty for classroom showings, but in most cases these need to be viewed by students in the library. The completely open stacks and full circulation (video - 7 days for all patrons ; audio - 3 weeks for all patrons) can wreak havoc on the stability and longevity of the collection at times. And course and research support is our primary objective always.
Rue From: McKenzie, Rue Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 3:31 PM To: 'videolib@lists.berkeley.edu' Subject: RE: Videos shelved separate or integrated into the stacks? Our media collection has gone through a variety of adjustments in the past few years, and it hasn't been held harmless. We've gone through a lot of necessary withdrawal processes, and currently have: 14,000+ videos (DVDs and VHS) 15,700+ sound recordings (CD, audiocassette, LPs) Some kits, biological/scientific models and stuff like that We have never interfiled the media with the books per se, but we have had open stacks and full circulation for a number of years. A few years ago we went from having a large separate stacks area (that also housed a lot of educational kits, cd-roms, etc.) with a large equipment lab and three classrooms to support all formats in the collection and a separate Circulation/Reserve desk for media, to a much smaller area on a different floor housing other types of collections, with a substantially reduced equipment support area. Now media materials are taken to the main Circulation Desk for check-out. Media Reserves are shelved there as well. While I think our original set up was ideal in many ways, living in a finite space with ever-growing/changing collections of all formats along with an ever-decreasing staff and budget made the downsizing pretty necessary. There has never much interest in interfiling media with print materials in the general stacks here. In my experience it's been hard enough to find appropriate shelving sizes and configurations to keep like materials together (and kind of orderly) and maintain maximum accessibility with efficient space utilization. And, my experience with patrons has been that they are usually looking for one format or the other. Of course now they are hoping, and sometimes assuming, that everything is going to be available online. One potential positive with interfiling would be the potential for 'discovery' of materials not recognized as being available. I know that our patrons like to browse the media collection. Materials are shelved by format, and are all classified in LC. I think this provides clear and direct access for the patrons, whether they are browsing or using the online catalog. Whenever possible, we have always tried our best to maintain the collections based on our understanding of how they are used by patrons. And, we've certainly had to change our perspectives occasionally! One thing I cannot stress enough...try to be sure that whatever physical changes are made, adequate space and storage and is guaranteed as much as possible. And try not to take someone else's word for the measurements...:) Rue Rue McKenzie Coordinator of Media Collections Academic Resources University of South Florida Library 4202 Fowler Ave., LIB122 Tampa, FL 33620 813-974-6342 / rmcken...@usf.edu From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Seay, Jared Alexander Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 2:46 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] Videos shelved separate or integrated into the stacks? Hello, I know this issue has been brought up on this list before, but the whole idea of videos in open stacks (integrated with the regular book collection) vs. a separate video collection (in open or closed stacks) is coming up at our library with a vengeance. I would like to get a test of the waters among those on this list about what your library does, does it work, and what would make it better. Certainly both horror stores as well as happy sunshine stores would be appreciated. For the record my situation is thus: We are the academic library for the College of Charleston (about 11,000 students). We have about 8000 videos (VHS and DVD) in our separate, closed stack collection. We only circulate to faculty (3 days). Reserve videos for faculty are at the circulation desk. Students must view videos in library only. To add to the complication, we recently concluded an agreement with our Student Government Association (SGA) to create an SGA funded collection of "popular" video titles that would be circulated (3 days) to students only. This collection would be located on shelves near the circulation desk near our browsing books. We are in the process of ordering titles now. What are your thoughts? Beyond what your library actually does, what do you (philosophically) THINK and FEEL is the "best" approach to making a Media Collection available to faculty and students? Is spreading the videos throughout the regular collection a good thing? Is a separate video collection a good thing? Many variables exist (open/closed stacks, partial integration, partial circulation etc.). 'll gladly allow myself to be directed to any good articles or links on the subject too. Thanks. Jared PS: I just found a good article from Library Trends (Winter 2010) on the subject (that I have not read yet): "Making the Most of Your Video Collection: Trends in Patron Access and Resource Sharing" by Barbara Bergman of Minnesota State University" 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.
