An article by Deborah Vroman, Library Journal, October 15, 2006, caught my eye. I've been meaning to comment on it for awhile. It brings up two questions in my mind. One is film Readers' Advisory and the other is dvd selection. The article includes this boxed statement ["Given patrons' demand for films in libraries, the need for DVD advisory will continue to rise"]. I'm just catching up with adding non-fiction RA to my lingo and this article is suggesting I learn to better recommend dvd's. <p>
The author is Assitant Director and Public Services Librarian of Richard Bland College of the College of William an Many, Petersburg, VA. This library has approx. 2000 dvd's in large part to an annoymous donor who puts them in the drop box every week or so. I took a quick look at their catalog and lists of new dvd's this morning and yes, they do have an impressive collection. The donated titles are so indicated in their catalog. All these new films has caused an increase in usage and the need for RA for films. <p>
The staff at Richard Bland suggests using resources such as Amazon and The Internet Movie Database to help patrons find movies., They have found Video Hound's Golden Movie Retriever and Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide almost too comprehensive for quick recommendations. Just like books recommendations, they find their patrons need a title at a moment's notice. To help staff and patrons to quickly find titles they have created a DVD Selection Guide which is available on their web site. It is broken down into categories and includes a statement about their selection criteria. This alone, is a very useful tool for both staff and patrons<p>.
Using some of the same skills we use in other forms of RA might work for films too. What resources are you using to help your patrons pick films? <p>
One that I use for collection development is Video Librarian, both the print and web versions. I respect their reviews and star ratings. Still, this doesn't begin to cover the vast number of films produced. I'd be interested in hearing how DVD RA and selection is being handled in your library?
