New formats grow slowly at libraries
LIBRARY CHANNEL GUIDE: Patrons still need to be educated about Blu-ray Disc, video downloads
By Buzz McClain -- Video Business, 7/6/2009
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JULY 6 | LIBRARY CHANNEL GUIDE: Although Blu-ray discs of the latest action movies have caught on in some libraries, non-theatrical video over the Internet is proving to be a bigger hit in the library channel.
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When Half Hollow Hills Community Library in suburban Long Island, N.Y., began stocking Blu-ray discs a year ago, the library quickly learned to create shelving and signage to prevent patrons from mistaking the high-definition titles for conventional DVDs.
A year later, reflecting that Blu-ray still hasn’t been adopted on a mass level, the library also makes available “handouts that explain what Blu-rays are and how they are different from regular DVDs,” says Ellen Druda, Half Hollow’s reference librarian for Internet services. “We also put a label on the cover of each Blu-ray saying that it will not play in a regular DVD player.”
Serving about 25,000 patrons, Half Hollow represents a trend among libraries that are cautiously increasing their Blu-ray inventories. Druda has some 60 Blu-rays on the shelf located not far from the 3,000 DVDs. “Blu-ray comes out of the regular DVD budget, and that isn’t increasing this year,” she says.
But libraries that stock Blu-ray find that those titles stay in motion, often even more than regular DVDs.
“Blu-ray makes up about 4% of our collection of DVDs,” but 8% of DVD loans, says Doug McDonough, director of the Manchester Public Library in Manchester, Conn.
Action titles are the most popular on the Blu-ray shelf, McDonough says. “They’re the ones with the best special effects, so they can show [Blu-ray] off to its greatest impact, rather than a romantic comedy you could see on regular DVD,” he says. When something like Iron Man or another action hit comes out, “people will be lining up for it.”
Alan Kaye, director of the Roddenbery Memorial Library in Cairo, Ga., has yet to stock Blu-ray for his 10,000 registered patrons. In fact, the local Video Warehouse rentailer only recently began carrying Blu-ray. “We’re battling huge budget cuts right now, and it has been the last thing on my mind this year,” Kaye says. “My estimate for when we start having Blu-ray is about this time next year, or if we are still in budget difficulty, perhaps later.”
More libraries are offering video downloads, in which the content still leans toward documentaries and educational fare.
Two of the main companies offering downloadable video are OverDrive and Recorded Books’ MyLibraryDV.
OverDrive recently signed a long-term deal with distributor Baker & Taylor, which will use OverDrive to bring e-books, audio and video downloads to its retail clients in a “private label” digital media library. OverDrive also will continue to provide content to 8,500 libraries.
Downloadable video “is certainly catching on, and that’s because of bandwidth and selection and the ease of transfer to portable devices,” says David Burleigh, OverDrive’s director of marketing. “And we’ve been adding content, which contributes to that growth.”
OverDrive has deals for documentaries, short subjects, travel guides, children’s material, instructional and foreign-language programs from PBS TV, Image Entertainment, Magnolia Pictures and Starz Media.
Another company offering video through library Web sites is Alexander Street, which uses streaming rather than downloading. But as with other new formats, it requires education.
Alexander Street works with about 2,000 libraries “to help them promote the collection to their users,” director of marketing Meg Keller says. “A lot of people who use the library are not yet accustomed to accessing video through the library’s Web site. Once they figure out they can log into the library Web site and can access the video without going to the library—and can do it for free—the demand should be huge.”
| % of libraries | 2009 | 2008 |
| Carry Blu-ray Discs now | ||
| Public | 12% | 3% |
| Academic | 11% | 2% |
| Probably/definitely will carry Blu-ray in the future | ||
| Public | 68% | 80% |
| Academic | 65% | 74% |
| Offer downloadable video now | ||
| Public | 35% | 33% |
| Academic | 21% | 13% |
| Probably/definitely will offer video downloads in the future | ||
| Public | 64% | 69% |
| Academic | 63% | 55% |
| Source: Reed Business Information. 2009 numbers based on responses from 204 public libraries/library systems and 92 academic libraries to a survey e-mailed April 15 to 4,623 subscribers to Library Journal’s LJ Xpress. 2008 numbers based on responses from 190 public libraries/library systems and 107 academic libraries. | ||
