Watch and Return DVDs

I just had to share. We were getting a lot of DVD donations at my branch and I was feeling so torn because I knew that the cataloging staff did not have the time to add a bunch of single title DVDs (like Andy Griffin shows or a movie starring Brett McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords (whose title escapes me now) which I knew would leap, fly, and zoom off the shelf), but I just felt we would be missing out on providing these resources to our patrons instead of just putting them out to sell and to go home and sit on one person's shelf.

So I went to my sup and I said, "What if I create a "Watch and Return" collection out of these DVDs?"

"Who, what?" she responded.

I held up a "Read and Return*" book and said, "now imagine this," followed by some waving of  the donated DVDs, "but only a DVD."

Then I smiled real big. And waggled my eyebrows. And she said, "sure."

YES!

And guess what? They've been coming back. I like to think that they touch some small part of people, the part that yearns to be an active part of the community, one that depends on trust. Either that, or people just realize, "why should I keep a bunch of DVDs taking up space on my shelves? This is going back to the library and it can take up space on their shelf."

*Read and Return- a paperback book that is not cataloged, nor which has any record in our database. These books serve those who do not have a library card, simply do not care to check materials out, or are surprise titles like our "The Help," which reward patrons for coming into the branch, browsing and finding something that is of interest.