NEW DVD Process for Staff

Hi All,

In an effort to cut down on the number of movies that we lose track of when we (the staff) take them home before they are processed, we are implementing a new procedure. You can details from either Lisa or Julie, but the short story is that from now on ALL new movies will be processed FIRST, and then staff will have first dibs on borrowing them on their library cards. This will help everyone keep track of what's where, and hopefully push those of us who hold on to things a little to long (I do this all the time!) to get stuff back pronto.

Also, this is going to apply to STAFF ONLY! I know that some of the volunteers like to take movies as well, but with 20 volunteers, in order to keep things fair, volunteers will have to place things on hold.

Specific questions can go to Lisa or Julie.

Thanks!

Staff Sign-Out Sheet for Materials not yet Cataloged

There is now a sign-out sheet (on a clipboard over the cart that new materials are placed on, near Lisa's desk) for STAFF taking books or DVDs or whatever BEFORE they are cataloged. I am famous for taking movies and forgetting that I have them, so this will help everyone keep track of where stuff is.

Also, there are a few movies that were ordered and delivered, but don't seem to be cataloged - so please check your dvd players just to make sure that nothing has been overlooked (I just did this and came up with 4 movies that I had completely forgotten I had, and one in the player downstairs, courtesy of Madison taking it without me knowing).

Hopefully this will help us keep track of things.

Thanks!

DVDs and VHS have MOVED!!!!

I spent the better part of Wednesday moving the DVD and VHS collections - basically trading shelving. The DVDs are now located on the long set of shelves, more "front and center" which will allow for more exposure and more shelving expansion. There's an open set of shelves between the FEATURE films and the SERIES and NON-FICTION films to allow for growth. For now it would be a nice place for movie displays, or perhaps a NEW MOVIE section (I hear people asking all the time about where to find the "new" movies).

The VHS Sci-Fi, which is still popular, is at the end of that row. the VHS feature films have moved to the back of the long shelves, and VHS non-fiction have moved to where the DVD features were. It's all been labeled, and shouldn't be difficult for people to figure out.

Please make sure the volunteers are aware of the change. I'll put up a sign tomorrow for the patrons.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Thanks!

Movies

The movie license has come in, so you can now start planning movie programs, or you can pass on suggestions to me. I left the general info in your mail boxes (how to access the website to look up movie titles and etc.), and those of you who plan programs also received a copy of the program ideas sheet and links to some of the online tools.

Aaaannnnnd, ACTION!

The library is the new owner of a two-year movie performance license from Movie Licensing USA. This is a pretty extensive license that covers a huge array of movies from most of the major studios (Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, DreamWorks, M-G-M, New Line, Warner Bros., Columbia, Tri-Star Pictures - to name a few).

This license will allow us to legally show any covered movie to our patrons. The move can be on DVD or VHS, and we can use a copy that we have in our collection, we can borrow from another library, or we can use a copy from home. Once our license begins (October 1st), we can download posters and bookmarks for advertising, use the website for program ideas, and search the database to see which movies are covered (I searched 20 really random titles yesterday and they were all covered).

Naturally, I plan on using this license a lot to kick-start the YA programming here. But I hope that we can put together programs for children, adults, seniors, and families as well. Another great feature is that we can offer this coverage to any of the groups using our meeting room - if they want to show a movie in our library as part of their program, they can.

The site is www.movlic.com, if you'd like to check it out. Once our contract kicks in, I will give you log-in info for our account and tips on searching the database.

If you have any ides for programming, let me know!