Culpeper Media Library adopts self-service DVD, video checkout

Yearning to see Hitchcock's Rear Window, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or perhaps Judgment at Nuremberg?

George Ambenge, an economics and political science major, browses videos and DVDs in the Media Library.

Photo by Suzanne Zack

Stop by the Culpeper Media Library on the third floor of Homer Babbidge Library to browse these and hundreds of other popular and classic films and presentations on video and DVD, and check them out for seven days.

The Library has changed to self-service in the media library to consolidate staff resources and provide more open access to media collections, particularly videos.

"As the cost of videos comes down, especially popular titles, libraries are less fearful of loss and more willing to allow them to circulate outside the library to all users, and through interlibrary loan," according to Barbara Oakley, area head for access services.

A number of UConn's peer universities have taken similar steps in response to these trends.

As a result of the change, all patrons may borrow non-reserve video materials for seven days and take the material out of Babbidge Library.

Previously, faculty, staff, and graduate students were entitled to a seven-day loan period, but undergraduates and borrowers from the community were restricted to three-hour, in-house use.

Assistance with video and audio holdings is available from the iDesk or Information Desk on the plaza level, or by phone at 860-486-2518.