Spring cleaning or Summer doldrums?
This months DVD buy is eclectic to say the least. We have a space problem at the Rogers Public Library. (Okay, ALL Libraries have space problems.) Our DVD collection is growing while our VHS collection is static. So I have been weeding our VHS collection to make room for DVDs. I think I've done a pretty good job of building a DVD Movie collection but the non-fiction DVDs collection is terrible. I have been systemically building up the movie collection but only sporadically working on the non-fiction collection. But now because of the space problem, something has to change.
Movies are wonderful. They are the art form that defined America in the 20th Century and because of this there are fantastic reviews sources and reference tools to help build a movie collection but building a non-fiction collection is at best haphazard. Review sources for non-fiction DVDs is almost nonexistent. Some subjects are very expensive to purchase on DVD. Business and industrial films on DVD are simply too expensive to justify purchasing for our collection. Also, large sets are a problem because if only one disk is lost or damaged the whole set must be replaced which is very frustrating for both the Library and the poor customer that might have to pay for it. So I'm always looking for reviews of non-fiction DVDs. Since I've been here I've occasionally built specific collections for specific reasons. This is why I have very good 'how-to' DVDs on sports and famous ballets. I found a good source for sports & fitness DVDs and I was trying to build up the Ballet collection because so many young girls take ballet but it is rare when a world class ballet comes anywhere near Rogers where young girls can see what a good ballet is supposed to look like.
My May order is actually May and June combined but I had to combine them to save on shipping costs. Thirteen titles from the Teaching Company cost over a thousand dollars which is what I had to order to get free shipping. Rude I know. I picked up several classic movies and some BBC-Masterpiece kind of stuff and a lot of non fiction.
MOVIES
Marooned Apollo type space craft gets Marooned. Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, James Franciscus, Gene Hackman, and David Jansson.
Papa's Delicate Condition One of those movies the critic's love but nobody else ever heard of. It was a Broadway hit and has an Oscar winning song with Jackie Gleason.
Clark Gable Collection Vol. 1 Call of the Wild, Soldier of Fortune, Tall Men I got this one for Call of the Wild Directed by William Wellman with Gable, Loretta Young and Jack Oakie but Soldier of Fortune is good also with Gable, Susan Hayward, Gene Barry and Michael Rennie.
Associate A Whoopi Goldberg Comedy.
Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years; Man with the Golden Arm, Some Came Running, Tender Trap, Marriage on the Rocks, None but the Brave. Several of these are dated but I would have bought this set for Man with the Golden Arm or Some Came Running.
Smile Satire of a small town Beauty Pageant. Bruce Dern Barbara Feldon.
Big Hand for the Little Lady. Poker Game gone wild in the old west with Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, and Burgess Meredeth.
Fountainhead Gary Cooper Patricia Neal and Raymond Massey from the Ayn Rand novel.
Charles Bronson Collection Telefon St. Ives See this one for Spy Thriller Telefon.
House Party Infectious comedy of black teens having a party.
Three Musketeers Every Generation does the Three Musketeers, 1921, 1935, 1939, 1948,1974, 1993 (we're about due for another one.) This is the 1948 version with Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, Vincent Price, June Allyson, Keenan Wynn, Gig Young and Angela Landsbury. Not as good as the 1974 version but what a cast!
Three Musketeers A 1930's serial with John Wayne in the Foreign Legion.
TELEVISION
Touch of Frost Season 1
Touch of Frost Season 2
Touch of Frost Season 3
Inspector Morse: Dead on Time Collection
Lovejoy: The Complete Season One
Lovejoy: The Complete Season Two
Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season
Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Sixth Season
Non Fiction
Yo-Yo Ma - Inspired by Bach: the Complete Cello Suites
Daniel Barenb
oim, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma - Beethoven Triple Concerto & Choral Fantasy
American Civil War
Revolution the Series
Meteorology: An Introduction to the Wonders of the Weather
Einsteins Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Physics for Non Scientists
Great Ideas of Classical Physics
Iliad of Homer
Odyssey of Homer
Masters of Greek Thought: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle
Birth of the Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th Century and 18th Centuries
Great World Religions: Islam
Great World Religions: Judaism
Great World Religions: Hinduism
Great World Religions Buddhism
Before 1776 Life in the American Colonies
Movies are wonderful. They are the art form that defined America in the 20th Century and because of this there are fantastic reviews sources and reference tools to help build a movie collection but building a non-fiction collection is at best haphazard. Review sources for non-fiction DVDs is almost nonexistent. Some subjects are very expensive to purchase on DVD. Business and industrial films on DVD are simply too expensive to justify purchasing for our collection. Also, large sets are a problem because if only one disk is lost or damaged the whole set must be replaced which is very frustrating for both the Library and the poor customer that might have to pay for it. So I'm always looking for reviews of non-fiction DVDs. Since I've been here I've occasionally built specific collections for specific reasons. This is why I have very good 'how-to' DVDs on sports and famous ballets. I found a good source for sports & fitness DVDs and I was trying to build up the Ballet collection because so many young girls take ballet but it is rare when a world class ballet comes anywhere near Rogers where young girls can see what a good ballet is supposed to look like.
My May order is actually May and June combined but I had to combine them to save on shipping costs. Thirteen titles from the Teaching Company cost over a thousand dollars which is what I had to order to get free shipping. Rude I know. I picked up several classic movies and some BBC-Masterpiece kind of stuff and a lot of non fiction.
MOVIES
Marooned Apollo type space craft gets Marooned. Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, James Franciscus, Gene Hackman, and David Jansson.
Papa's Delicate Condition One of those movies the critic's love but nobody else ever heard of. It was a Broadway hit and has an Oscar winning song with Jackie Gleason.
Clark Gable Collection Vol. 1 Call of the Wild, Soldier of Fortune, Tall Men I got this one for Call of the Wild Directed by William Wellman with Gable, Loretta Young and Jack Oakie but Soldier of Fortune is good also with Gable, Susan Hayward, Gene Barry and Michael Rennie.
Associate A Whoopi Goldberg Comedy.
Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years; Man with the Golden Arm, Some Came Running, Tender Trap, Marriage on the Rocks, None but the Brave. Several of these are dated but I would have bought this set for Man with the Golden Arm or Some Came Running.
Smile Satire of a small town Beauty Pageant. Bruce Dern Barbara Feldon.
Big Hand for the Little Lady. Poker Game gone wild in the old west with Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, and Burgess Meredeth.
Fountainhead Gary Cooper Patricia Neal and Raymond Massey from the Ayn Rand novel.
Charles Bronson Collection Telefon St. Ives See this one for Spy Thriller Telefon.
House Party Infectious comedy of black teens having a party.
Three Musketeers Every Generation does the Three Musketeers, 1921, 1935, 1939, 1948,1974, 1993 (we're about due for another one.) This is the 1948 version with Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, Vincent Price, June Allyson, Keenan Wynn, Gig Young and Angela Landsbury. Not as good as the 1974 version but what a cast!
Three Musketeers A 1930's serial with John Wayne in the Foreign Legion.
TELEVISION
Touch of Frost Season 1
Touch of Frost Season 2
Touch of Frost Season 3
Inspector Morse: Dead on Time Collection
Lovejoy: The Complete Season One
Lovejoy: The Complete Season Two
Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season
Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Sixth Season
Non Fiction
Yo-Yo Ma - Inspired by Bach: the Complete Cello Suites
Daniel Barenb
oim, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma - Beethoven Triple Concerto & Choral FantasyAmerican Civil War
Revolution the Series
Meteorology: An Introduction to the Wonders of the Weather
Einsteins Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Physics for Non Scientists
Great Ideas of Classical Physics
Iliad of Homer
Odyssey of Homer
Masters of Greek Thought: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle
Birth of the Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th Century and 18th Centuries
Great World Religions: Islam
Great World Religions: Judaism
Great World Religions: Hinduism
Great World Religions Buddhism
Before 1776 Life in the American Colonies
posted by Rob Finch at 8:56 AM
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