Welcome to the Rockridge DVD Project
"Growing the Rockridge Branch Library Collection"
Links:
Fundraising Kudos to: Rockridge DVD Project
Rockridge library near doubling its DVDs
Videots closing down tomorrow
Videots will honor customers, DVDs to go to Library
Libraries: a bigger source of DVDs than Netflix
Slow Fade-Out for Video Stores
Oakland Public Library
Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC)
Articles:
The following two articles were first published in
The Rockridge News, © 2010,
and are reprinted here with permission. The
originals can be viewed on page 8 of the May, 2010 Rockridge News and
on the front page of the June, 2010 Rockridge News, respectively.
Note that our mailing address for donations has changed since these articles were first published. The new mailing
address has been inserted into the reprint below and is also shown on our "Donate" page.
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Rockridge Branch Library to Double DVD Collection With Community's Help
by Annette Floystrup RCPC board; Jon Gabel contributed to this article
When Rockridge resident and RCPC board member Jon Gabel learned that Videots, the specialty video rental store
in Berkeley's Elmwood district, was closing and selling its stock of 10,000 DVDs, he immediately realized the
potential benefit for the Rockridge Branch Library. Videots, long a movie buff's paradise, has been known in
the Bay Area for its remarkable selection of American and foreign movie classics from the silent movie era forward,
documentaries, US and British television series, music performances and more. Gabel realized the addition of
appropriate selections of Videots' DVD collection to the Rockridge Library would attract more patrons and expand circulation.
Gabel approached Videots owner John Huffman about selling a portion of its DVD stock at a sharp discount to benefit the
Rockridge Library. Huffman, a lifelong fan of both libraries and movies, readily agreed. Working with RCPC board member
Annette Floystrup, Gabel next enlisted the support of the Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC) board of directors and
City Council President Jane Brunner's office, with aides Nila Kim and Maria Barra-Gibson facilitating a relationship between
what was now called the Rockridge DVD Project and library administrators.
Oakland Public Library (OPL) administration was supportive from the outset with Associate Director Gerry Garzon giving
the project solid backing. Garzon also lent the services and expertise of Collection Management Librarian Randy McDevitt-Parks and offered use of OPL bar scanning equipment to assist in creating a database of the selected DVDs.
Meanwhile, Gabel and his wife, Ligaya Yadao, worked with local actor and Videots employee David Hern to select the DVDs that
would augment the Rockridge Library collection. Head Librarian Pat Lichter allocated additional shelf space, and lent Rockridge
librarians Gay Ducey, Susy Moorhead and Eve Buckner to the project. Together with McDevitt-Parks, they sorted through the DVDs,
culling duplicates and unsuitable titles, selecting 2,877 discs for the branch.
Much of the work to secure the DVDs for the branch was done by volunteer labor and library staff time, but about $32,000 is
needed to place the DVDs on the branch's shelves, ready for circulation. To secure the DVDs before Videots closed, RCPC lent
the project $13,000 to purchase the selected discs at $4 each. Cataloging costs and a security case will total approximately
$7 per disc, although some DVDs will be cased as pairs because they are television series, reducing costs. Next month, Gabel
and Floystrup, with the sponsorship of RCPC, will launch a fundraising campaign to recoup purchase and final shelving costs of the new collection. Friends of the Rockridge Library (FORL) are kicking off the $32,000 fundraising effort with a $500 donation toward the purchase of security cases.
Watch for the coming fundraising campaign to learn how you, too, can help.
DVDs are the most popular circulating item in the Rockridge Library, with just over half checked out at any given time.
2,877 DVD titles await cataloging and security cases so they can be added to the 2,800 DVDs currently in the Rockridge
Branch Library collection.
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Rockridge DVD Project Launches Fund Drive to Fill Library DVD Shelves
by Annette Floystrup, DVD Project co-chair
The Rockridge DVD Project is kicking off its fundraising drive to raise $33,000 to place over 2,800 DVDs into the collections
at the Rockridge Branch Library. A $1,000 challenge grant has been donated, which will be matched by the donor's employer.
This gift, together with the $500 towards security cases from Friends of the Rockridge Library, gets the fundraising drive off
to a flying start.
To see which documentaries, PBS series and specials, TV series, and classic and contemporary films for adults and young people
your donations will add to the library collections, a complete database of the DVD titles has been made using a free download
tool, DVD Profiler by Invelos Software (www.invelos.com). To browse the database, download the free tool from www.rockridge.org
and follow the instructions on the Rockridge DVD Project Web page at www.rockridge.org. Using the Invelos software, you will be
able to view the project database on their site and see a synopsis, cast, cover art and many more details for each title. A link to
an Excel spreadsheet is also available on the Web site which shows all the available titles but includes no additional information.
Donations can be made via PayPal and by check. Checks should be made out to: "RCPC/Rockridge DVD
Project" and sent to: RCPC/Rockridge DVD Project, 4123 Broadway PMB 311, Oakland, CA 94611, with a completed
donation form.
Contributions will be gratefully and publicly acknowledged in the following categories:
Producer's Guild: |
$2,500 to $5,000 |
Director's Guild: |
$1,000 to $2,499 |
Actor's Guild: |
$500 to $999 |
Writer's Guild: |
$250 to $499 |
Craft Guild: |
$100 to $249 |
Film Critics: |
$50 to $99 |
Movie Buffs: |
$49 and under |
Anonymous donations are welcome and will be designated in all categories as "Silent Film Stars."
All money donated to the Rockridge DVD Project is a tax-deductible charitable donation, and will be handled through RCPC,
which is lending the use of its tax ID to the project. Money collected in excess of the need to complete the Rockridge DVD
Project will be dedicated to benefit the future purchase of DVDs for the Rockridge Branch Library.
Why the Rockidge DVD Project?
DVDs are the highest-circulation collection at the Rockridge Library, with over half the collection checked out at any given
time. The May Rockridge News included a story of how the Rockridge DVD Project began. Videots, the specialty video store in
the Elmwood, recently had closed. The project began with an agreement with the owner to buy some of his 10,000 DVDs at only
$4 each. To expedite the purchase, RCPC agreed to provide a short-term loan to the Rockridge DVD Project to acquire almost
3,000 DVDs plus a professional DVD polishing machine to maintain the collection. It will cost about $7 per DVD for library-approved
security cases and professional cataloging. The DVDs have been selected by library staff and will double the existing collection.
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