Rhonda, I think the cost of adapting to streaming video will vary greatly based on availability of creative and skillful technical support and a deep IT infrastructure. With no added staffing, we've added about 12,000 streaming videos to our inventory and all can be found through the library catalog. This has been engineered almost entirely by one e-resources person working from FMG spreadsheets and Alex Street Press MARC files. He does need to do some maintenance when new items are added to these collections but his efforts can be measured in hours rather than the weeks or months it would take to do copy cataloging on an item-by-item level. We have done some copy-cataloging but it hasn't altered our workflow too much.
The biggest time consumer is in the digitization of titles we've licensed from companies that do not stream from their own sites but even that hasn't necessitated added staffing. We also spent a lot of effort working with the campus IT folks to get a server up and running to host those digitized videos. That's probably still out of reach for many libraries but even the smallest libraries should be considering at least third-party providers to host licensed videos for streaming. BTW is it only me or are others seeing a notable drop in the use of VHS/DVD collections? I'm sensing that iTunes/Netflix/Amazon are really starting to cut into our business - having noticed that since our fiscal year began in May 2011 our circulation is off by over 20% compared to the same period last year. Summer use varies much more greatly than regular semester use so this could be explainable by other factors but it's worth scrutinizing. Chris Lewis On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 8:57 PM, Rosen, Rhonda J. <rhonda.ro...@lmu.edu> wrote: > Hi, > > 1.) I’m interesting in how moving from VHS/DVD to streaming changed your > media department workflow. For any of you who have moved this way, have you > needed more staff or less ? > > > > And > > 2) In this time of budget tightening, How has the personnel structure of > your media department changed? > > Rhonda > > > > Rhonda Rosen| Head, Media & Access Services > William H. Hannon Library | Loyola Marymount University > One LMU Drive, MS 8200 | Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659 > rhonda.ro...@lmu.edu| 310/338-4584| > http://library.lmu.edu > > "You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people > sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing > wild animals as librarians." > --Monty Python > > > > > > > > > > > > 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. > > -- Chris Lewis Media Librarian American University Library 202.885.3257 For latest Media Services News: Blog: http://aulibmedia.blogspot.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-University-Library-Media-Services/132559226823103 Twitter: http://twitter.com/aulibmedia Please think twice before printing this e-mail. 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.
