Re: fixing broken cases...

Lori Stevens (Stevenlo@uvsc.edu)
Fri, 21 Apr 2000 11:55:43 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Amy,
I'll throw in my 2 cents for what its worth.
At both our public library (13,000 video titles) and the academic library where I work, we will recase the video if the outer casing is cracked, melted etc. We replace broken front flaps with salvaged parts. I can't imagine why it would be a violation of copyright anymore than rebinding a book, repairing a torn page, reattaching a leader, or splicing the chewed up trailers would be. These are all fairly standard practices and I haven't heard of anyone being called on the carpet for preservation work. Now copying the tape itself is an entirely different matter.
We usually train a work study student to do this task. The public library uses pages. If you figure the minimum wage per hour, it costs us about a dollar in staff time to recase a title. Hope this helps!
You mentioned this was your first posting:
Welcome to the list! These people are a dream come true!

Lori Stevens
Media Librarian
Utah Valley State College Library
Orem, Utah 84058

Buffy: "See, this is a school. And we have students
and they check out books. And then they learn things."

(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1997)

>>> Amy Cantu <CantuA@aadl.org> 04/21/00 12:09PM >>>
This is my first post, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

I'm curious about what you do when the housing to a videocassette is damaged
but the tape itself is fine. Do you transfer the tape to new housing? Do
you fix the original with salvaged parts from old cassettes? I realize this
isn't necessarily a very practical use of time or resources, but I'm also
wondering if it amounts to a violation of copyright. Any thoughts or
suggestions on this topic would be appreciated.

Amy Cantu,
Associate Librarian
Ann Arbor District Library
343 S. Fifth Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
cantua@aadl.org