Library Video Friends, We are undergoing the effects of the VHS apocalypse in which our IT department will be removing all VHS players from all classrooms by the end of this spring. Though (at least a present) our library is generally keeping our VHS titles and our small band of VHS/DVD combo players, they will no longer be supported by the campus. So there is that. Woe is me.
However, I have another question to the assembled library video elite. There is a growing administrative movement or thought or feeling (I don't want to sound conspiratorial - because it is not an evil conspiracy) that if we have access to a video title as streaming source, then we should not purchase that title in DVD. Seems to me like it is being thought as analogous to the print vs. online journal article thing, and for the same reasons. Why should we have the title in two places and pay for both.... or even pay for none when one is free? In a recent example, the decision was made to not purchase a title because it was available in several other streaming venues (YouTube, hula, etc.), even though it was NOT part of our library streaming video services. I have mixed feelings about this, and I don't think it is black and white. So, I just want to know, does anyone out there have such a policy or philosophy that says "we don't buy DVD (generally) if the title is available as a streaming title?" How are you folks handling the encroaching streaming vs. DVD thing? Thanks. Jared PS: This is NOT an official policy we have officially adopted. However, it is a growing underground movement. 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.
