Re: video approval plans?

laroi.lawton (laroi.lawton@bcc.cuny.edu)
Mon, 28 Jan 2002 10:06:03 -0800 (PST)

Dear Colleagues:
What we do at Bronx Community College is the following:
There are five librarians who specialize in core areas across the academic
curriculum. We take a look at the course syllabus for every media list we
have. These lists are mediagraphies which we have produced over the years
that are related to the specific course. Any video title we feel is
essential to that course must be previewed by the Instructor teaching that
course. If approved, and depending upon our budget, we purchase it. Another
requirement on our part is that the Instructor include the title in their
course syllabus for students to look at when covering the topic in class. We
also ask Instructors to give us titles of videos they feel may be good for
their course and get these items sent in on preview. All Instructors are
asked to fill out preview forms for all items approved and disapproved for
purchase so that we can refer back to a title if need be to see if another
Instructor gave a different opinion. This has worked well for us because,
the Instructor(s) is an integral part of the process and it has helped us
determine what items not to buy-even if we think otherwise. Since our entire
collection is course-related across the BCC curriculum, this has helped us
develop a unique collection
that many of our students and faculty appreciate.

LaRoi Lawton, Director
Gerald S. Lieblich Learning Resource Center
Library & Learning Resources Dept.
Bronx Community College
Bronx, NY 10453
laroi.lawton@bcc.cuny.edu

----- Original Message -----
From: "Roberta Astroff" <r4a@psulias.psu.edu>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <videolib@library.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: video approval plans?

> But this sounds exactly like the relationship between monograph selectors,
> academic life and approval plans for books.
>
> Roberta Astroff
> Penn State
>
> At 11:48 AM 1/26/2002 -0800, you wrote:
> >Re video approval plans.
> >
> >One word: ugggggggggggggggggggggggg!
> >
> >Even if such a beast did exist (and it doesn't, particularly for
> >academic libraries), 20 years in this business
> >tells me that
> >leaving the selection of video up to a third party would be courting
> >certain disaster. It's hard enough for full-time media librarians to
pull
> >this off...leaving it up to profit-driven outsiders would be madness.
> >Selection in academic libraries is a matter of weighing curricular and
> >research needs against market availability--that's a trick that requires
> >eternal vigilance, constant participation in the academic life of campus,
> >an intimate knowledge of both mainstream and independent filmmaking, and
a
> >close connection to colleagues with similar collections. We ain't
talking
> >books here...
> >
> >Gary Handman
> >Director
> >Media Resources Center
> >Moffitt Library
> >UC Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
> >510-643-8566
> >ghandman@library.berkeley.edu
> >
> >"You are looking into the mind of home video. It is innocent, it is
aimless,
> >it is determined, it is real" --Don DeLillo, Underworld
> >
> >On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, Linda Engelberg wrote:
> >
> > > My administrator is asking about video approval plans for
universities. I
> > > can't imagine that there is such a thing? Tho I believe that
Professional
> > > Media was offering some kind of a service, but I don't think it was at
the
> > > University level. Can anyone offer comments or information. thanx
and
> > > aloha.
> > >
> > > Linda Engelberg
> > > Video Librarian
> > > Wong Audiovisual Center
> > > Sinclair Library
> > > University of Hawaii
> > > Honolulu, HI 96822
> > > (808) 956-5414
> > > FAX (808) 956-5952
> > > engel@hawaii.edu
> > >
> > >