I don't purchase PPR for films, either. Even when the public library price is connected with K-12 at something like $89, that's more than I want to pay. And, our documentaries circulate. I didn't pick up My Perestroika, but Midwest is the vendor we use for our DVDs. A few years ago, one of the vendors did a test sale here - if I remember correctly. A certain number of libraries had to sign up to order a title, and the price would be reduced to a home use level. I don't think enough libraries signed up, but I don't remember what the outcome was. The thing is, for a lot of the documentaries being considered here, they're outside the scope of a lot of public libraries. But we're a larger, urban city library, and we have a very diverse population, and one of the things they do is check out nonfiction DVDs of all kinds. I have had to push for this part of the collection not to be decimated because of the perception that the nonfiction doesn't go out. My supervisor is slowly coming around to the fact that nonfiction DVDs - whether documentaries, how-to, self-improvement, or whatever - all go out. I just have to be picky about what I can buy - I'm not paying institutional prices for titles that we circulate as home use.
Becky Tatar Periodicals/Audiovisuals Aurora Public Library 1 E. Benton Street Aurora, IL 60505 Phone: 630-264-4100 FAX: 630-896-3209 blt...@aurora.lib.il.us www.aurorapubliclibrary.org 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.
