DVD Categorization & Shelving

Comment:  "I would love to see the movies divided out by ratings.  It would also be much easier to look through the movies if they had the spines facing out like on a bookshelf. Thanks for considering these suggestions."

Reply:   All DVDs in the Children's department are rated G or are made for young children. All other DVDs are located on the second floor and and are filed by the first letter of the title for fiction or by the Dewey Number for non-fiction. Because every individual has the right to decide what is appropriate for his or her viewing pleasure, it is important to select a movie based on the content rather than a single rating system created by the Motion Picture Association of America. The Sycamore Public Library encourages all our patrons to inform themselves as fully as possible about their viewing options. The rating information is located on the DVD artwork along with the reasons for the rating and the movie description. Ratings are also included in the item's record which you or our staff can access by looking up the item in the catalog.

Our DVDs are shelved in a bin style unit specifically to make the DVD artwork the most prominent feature.  Library best practices and several studies have shown that shelving DVDs face-out appeals to the majority of library users by presenting a large image rather than a small spine label with numbers or text.  We understand that many of our users are most comfortable identifying all our items by spine label, but we have had an overwhelmingly positive response to our face-out shelving for DVDs and they will remain this way.

Blu-Ray Format

Comment:  "Blu-Rays"

Reply:  Movies on Blu-Ray discs offer a high-quality picture and greater capability for bonus features as compared to regular DVDs.  One of the drawbacks for libraries is that Blu-Ray discs are $8.00 to $10.00 more expensive than standard DVDs, and cost of materials is always a consideration when thinking about adding new collections of library items.  We look to the demands of our patrons, both from suggestions in our comment cards and from your use of other libraries' Blu-Ray collections through the inter-library loan system.  Currently we haven't seen much demand -- only about 1-2 Blu-Ray discs come via inter-library loan every month.  You are welcome to place holds for Blu-Rays discs at other libraries in our system. Any movie that has been owned by a library in the system for more than three months is shared between the libraries.

Blu-Ray Discs

Suggestions: Please Consider getting Blue Ray discs for patrons to check out. They are becoming very popular. Thanks!

Reply: Buying Blu-Ray discs is a funding and demand issue. We have limited funding for adding new collections to the library and need to have enough demand to warrant shifting funds for a new purpose. I did speak with the Head of Circulation and asked how many Blu-Ray discs are coming to the library through Inter library loan. She said the number is very small about one or two a month. We will not be purchasing movies on Blu-Ray at this time.

You are welcome to place holds for Blu-Rays discs at other libraries in our system. Any movie that has been owned by a library in the system for more than three months is shared between the libraries.

More Movies

We purchase new movies every month. If you are not finding what you want, you need to be more specific about your request.

Don't forget to place a hold on your favorite new movie. This will ensure that when the movie is available, you will get a call or email to come and pick it up.

Most movies that are in the PrarireCat Catalog can be borrowed. Just place a hold and if you get a message that we will contact you when the item comes in, your hold went through. If you get a message that the hold could not be placed, then you need to talk to staff for further assistance. Either the only libraries that own that movie do not share and we don't own it, or there is a problem with your account that needs to be dealt with. We are in a consortium with many libraries so that you will have access to a larger variety if items.

We do have a listing of the new movies that is updated each time we make large purchases. We do not make a paper list of the whole collection because it is ever changing and over 3,000 items long. We are always buying new movies and we have to withdraw those that are damaged.

If you want to learn how to search the catalog and limit a list to meet your needs, stop at the reference desk and ask for help with searching the catalog. The reference staff can help you use the advanced search tools.

If there is a movie that you want that the Sycamore Library does not own, let us know. We will consider the title for purchase.