RE: [Videolib] Previewing videos

Bergman, Barbara J (barbara.bergman@mnsu.edu)
Thu, 1 Sep 2005 13:58:44 -0500

Our policy is that we don't buy pricey titles (over $150) without previewing unless they have really really good reviews.
The $10-$20 cost of previewing is far cheaper than spending $200+ each on things that turn out to not be what the professor needs. Oftentimes a video that sounds good on paper turns out to be worthless us either because it's not the content needed or the production values turn out to be poor. I'm guessing we've all had experience with a certain vendor (not one of the fine vendors on this list) who markets very well to the faculty, but is not so good on including accurate descriptions and reasonable prices.
I have a separate postage & handling budget of about $1,000 for the year. I don't like the fact that some vendors are now charging a "restocking" fee, but still feel like a save more than I spend. We do use ILL for some previewing, but it depends on the title - it works well when the title is something older and fairly widely held. New releases or very expensive titles are easier to get direct from the distributor.



Barb Bergman
Media Services Librarian
Minnesota State University-Mankato
(507) 389-5945

_____

From: videolib-bounces@library.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-bounces@library.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Beth Burleigh
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 7:38 AM
To: Videolib@library.berkeley.edu
Subject: [Videolib] Previewing videos

Good Morning,
The faculty at our college sometimes wish to preview a video or DVD before purchasing. This is especially true with nursing videos. This can be costly because if the video is not purchased we are to pay for the shipping and handling both ways and sometimes it is a percentage of the cost of the video. It eats away at our budget to purchase.

We have thought about ILL because we do ILL with our videos. Another idea was to set up a special fund. We are also considering charging the departments. Has anyone done any of these idea and have any of these worked?

We were wondering how other universities handle previewing of videos or DVDs for their faculty. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Beth Burleigh

Beth Burleigh
Acquisitions Specialist,
Periodicals and Electronic Resources
Penn College Library
Dif#69
One College Ave.
Williamsport, PA 17701-5799
Phone: (570) 320-2400 ext. 7454
Fax: (570) 327-4503
e-mail bburleig@pct.edu

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