Movies in the Library?

Greetings!

We have had a number of VHS tapes in our school library that were used years ago by teachers who wanted something special for a class party or just before vacation or to illustrate a lit set that they had read. About 5 or more years ago, I began to buy only DVDs rather than VHS because fewer and fewer teachers could play VHS in their classrooms. I began replacing the ones that teachers used regularly and added more that were requested, and now I have a decent DVD section for our teachers to use.

I have a nice collection of Reading Rainbow DVDs for teachers to use. I also have some Bill Nye, Science Guy plus other science subjects that teachers have requested. A couple of years ago, our junior high science teachers asked if I had any movies about DNA, cells, and diseases. I searched and found some that were age-appropriate and added them to our collection.
Most of the DVDs I acquired through Library Video, an educational resource. If you order from them, you will receive regular catalogs. I believe that you can also click and view clips from some of the movies.

Feature Films for Families has many feature length movies that have been ‘cleaned up’ for family viewing. Scenes that may contain language issues or sex issues have been altered or deleted. They advertise they have family movies with family values. It is another option for choosing movies with good themes. When I checked their website, I noticed a link to request a free DVD.

I know that there is a lot of material available through YouTube and it is quick to view from there. You might also check out TeacherTube that is geared toward educational sources.

So what happened to our old VHS tapes? A few years ago, I moved most of the VHS movies to a more central location in the library and allowed students to check them out. Each year we have noticed that fewer kids check them out and this year I am replacing them with DVDs for children and families to check out. I took the VHS tapes and evaluated each one for content to see if the exact title might still be a good option to have in the library. Then I searched in Library Video for titles. After a number of misses, I then went to Amazon.com and was able to find most of the titles available. This taught me to search multiple sites to find what I wanted and to price check. Amazon.com was either very similar or cheaper. (Plus – I am a Prime member and got free shipping!)

If you come to visit my library, you will find very few VHS tapes. They are the ones that I have been unable to replace in DVD format, but I haven’t given up yet!

Have a great week!

Audrey


Sources for movies:
1. Library Video – for educational and entertainment DVDs
2. Feature Films for Families - http://www.familytv.com/
3. Amazon.com - if you know what you are looking for
4. Commonsensemedia.com - to review movies and evaluate appropriateness