Guide #17. Nonbook Media To Go:
Incorporating Audio and Video Recordings
and CD-ROMs into the Congregational Library
Joyce Burner. 1997. 20 p. $7.50; members $6.00
Nonbook Media to Go: Incorporating Audio and Video Recordings and CD-ROMs into the Congregational Library is an essential how-to guide for librarians who want to increase their collections by adding non-book media. Why bother branching out? Because videos, compact discs, audio cassettes and CD-ROMs can dramatically enhance your library’s ministry.
The goal of any library is to provide its users access to information—information that may be formatted in different ways. “The information is important, not the particular medium,” Burner says. “The scope of the congregational library’s collection is narrowed by subject matter, but it should still include all formats appropriate to achieving its purpose of connecting patron with information . . . [and] not treat nonbook media as second class citizens.”
In addition, Burner says, nonbook media will attract parts of the congregation that the library may not have reached in the past. The mission of the library, after all, Burner says, is “not to promote reading, but to provide for the recreational, cultural and informational needs of our community of patrons.”
Burner takes the apprehensive (and perhaps skeptical) librarian, step-by-step through a range of topics, including types of nonbook media, collection development and selection, budgeting, classifying, organizing, cataloging, processing, housing, circulating, licensing rights and security, and adds a bibliography and an index for good measure.
In broaching the subject of developing a nonbook collection, Burner advises a hard look at “what they should have” vs. “what they want,” and urges congregational librarians to “develop a philosophy statement that outlines [their] reasons for including nonbook media in [their] collection and mention . . . specific concerns.” She includes an example of such a policy that her own church library developed.
Table of Contents
The Rationale, or Why Can't I Just Stick with Books?
A Closer Look at the Specific Media
Collection Development and Selection
Classifying and Organizing Nonbook Media
Cataloging Nonbook Media
Processing Nonbook Media
Housing Nonbook Media
Circulating Nonbook Media
Home Use Vs. Public Performance Licensing Rights for Videotapes
Buckle Up and Hold on Tight!
Hillcrest Covenant Church Library Selection Policy and
Collection Development Guidelines
