RE: The beginning of the end?

Rick Faaberg (RickF@nwresd.k12.or.us)
Fri, 21 Jun 2002 13:53:57 -0700 (PDT)

For our K-12 library of around 13,000 titles, over the last year we've
acquired around 100 DVDs covering broad subject areas, as well as DVD
players for checkout by the schools. This was experimental in the sense that
I wanted to gauge interest - found out that interest is indeed very high.
Many of those who've used DVD from us this year may be those who also used
laserdisc in the past - had comments from libarians that teachers love
finely-chapterized DVDs and they find DVD a lot easier to use than laserdisc
and so that's the type of DVD we're purchasing.

As far as VHS, for any given DVD acquisition we purchase the VHS version if
it's available. From decades of experience in K-12, I know VHS players will
be in schools for the next 10 years at least (unless streaming takes over
entirely of course). We still have 400 16mm films (down from 4000 about 3
years ago)! Another weeding of 16mm will happen this summer and if all goes
well we'll do a fairly severe weeding of VHS as well.

So, next year we'll continue building the small DVD collection, but the
majority of purchases will be on VHS format.

Assuming I have a job... 8^(

HTH

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: Daren Callahan [mailto:dcallaha@lib.siu.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 1:20 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: The beginning of the end?

Can I ask what kinds of purchasing you all will be doing this next fiscal
year? Video? DVD? Will you continue to purchase both? What criteria will
you use? We have a relatively small collection (approx. 10,000 videos)
and a small budget (about $17,000), and we just started adding DVDs in the
last year. Since I had to use my video allocation to incorporate these DVD
purchases, I tried to be selective and ordered titles that were recommended
for their quality or additional material. The DVD presence in the rental
chains has mushroomed in the past year, and, with this latest announcement
from Circuit City, I suppose the trend is clear.

I would find it really helpful if folks would share their plans for
purchasing for FY03.
Thanks.

x:..:x:..:x:..:x:..:x:..:x:..:x:..:x:...
Daren Callahan
Head, Cataloging Department
Morris Library, Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-6632
FAX: 618-453-3452
618-453-7681