Last night I stayed up wayyy past my bedtime to watch the 85th Academy Awards show with Emek Köse (Mathematics), Anna Han (Psychology), Shan Sappleton (Political Science), & Colby Caldwell (Art & Art History).  It got me thinking about the outstanding DVD collection that we have here at the SMCM Library – almost 3,000 strong!

First, some background information.  DVD’s circulate for three days and may be renewed up to three times – so you can keep them for almost two weeks.  Like so many of our other items here, they are NOT subject to daily overdue fines.  The collection is behind the circulation desk so you can’t browse the titles yourself, but we have some options if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.

• Binder: we have a binder at the circulation desk that lists our films (DVD & VHS) in alphabetical order.  We’re adding DVD’s to the collection all the time so this list isn’t 100% complete, but it is very accurate – we update the binder once or twice a year.
• Catalog: our online catalog can be used to search for films in many different ways – title, language, genre, actors/director/producer, etc etc.  I recommend using the advanced search screen as it has many more options.

For example, let us say you want to watch something from the Criterion Collection (we have well over 200).  Set the format to “DVD” and search for the series “criterion collection” – like so:

This will bring up the list of Criterion Collection films that we own.  Say you click on The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, but discover that it is checked out.  However, you still want to watch a documentary although you’re not sure which one.  Scroll down the page a bit and find the “subjects” listing.  This is all the different subjects that the film might fit into.  Click on “documentary films” and the catalog will bring up all the documentary films owned by the SMCM Library.

These are just a few of the tools available to search for films in the SMCM Library catalog.  You can search for actors, directors, or producers; academy award nominees/winners; foreign-language films; and almost any other bibliographic information you can think of.  So if you’re in the mood to relax on the couch and take in a movie, stop by the SMCM Library.  We’ve got thousands to choose from in all genres – documentaries, educational films, dramas, comedies, etc etc.  Whether an Oscar winner or researching the biodiversity of the Florida Everglades, the SMCM Library has what you’re looking for – and we’ll be glad to help you out in the search process as well, either in-person at the reference desk or virtually via the Ask Us feature embedded throughout our website.

Thanks, and happy librarying!