UR will soon be enhancing its popular movie collection.
Through the work of several students and the help of the Students’ Association government and the River Campus Libraries, students will soon be able to search Voyager to get a popular Hollywood movie to watch with friends.
The idea, originally made by sophomores Noah Kuschel and Andrew Bauknet last year, was unanimously approved March 28 by the SA Senate. The senate gave $2,000 to make the idea a reality and the River Campus Library gave the same amount, doubling the total to $4,000.
“The DVD collection will, for one, provide another source of entertainment for the student body, where the vast majority live on campus, many without a car and unable to go off campus to rent a movie for the weekend,” Kuschel said.
Baukney agreed. “It will be a service that is very beneficial to freshmen and sophomores,” Baukney said. “No longer will students have to bum a ride with a junior or senior they know to get the movie they want to see.”
The multimedia center already houses some popular videos and DVDs for the student use including “American Beauty,” “Erin Brockovich,” and “Bamboozled,” but the collection is mostly educational and the collection is not selected by students.
“The addition of new titles, selected and paid for by students, simply makes the program more successful,” Dean of the River Campus Libraries Ron Dow said. “I agreed to match student money with library funds to make sure that every effort could be made to meet student expectations for the collection.”
The senate services committee, chaired by sophomore Peter Ordal, is currently gathering feedback from students on what movies to buy for the collection. The services committee will use that data, along with movie rankings by various groups, to purchase the DVDs.
Initially, the collection will only contain one copy of each DVD. Also, there won’t be a large open space where students can walk around and look at all the different movie titles.
“With time, the collection will grow ? initially we are shooting for about 200 DVDs ? and the range of genres offered will grow as well,” Kuschel said.
The additional movies will be added to the existing collection and will be catalogued on the library’s online catalog, Voyager, which will also users to search for titles. Additionally, a current PDF file will be downloadable so students can discover what movies are in the collection.
Check out will work like the library’s current policy for videos and movies ? DVDs will be checked out for free for a week’s time. For every day the DVD is late, a dollar late fee will be added. If the disc is damaged beyond repair it will require a replacement fee.
The senate will allocate money every year to keep the collection current, Kuschel said.
Movie rental projects are under way at many colleges, including Wake Forest University, Florida Atlantic University, the University of Missouri, and the University of California.
“Research libraries, such as ours, purchase films to support teaching and research,” Dow said. “Video libraries on campus are more traditionally supported at the student commons. Our goal isn’t necessarily to get more people to the library.
“Our mission is to partner with students and faculty to enhance experience,” Dow said.
Baukney and Kuschel both began looking into the idea as freshmen when they discussed it together when they were suitemates and used it as a spur to join student government ? Kuschel joined cabinet and Baukney was elected to senate as the Susan B. Anthony representative ? this year.
SA president and senior John LaBoda wanted to make the point clear that students have the power to effect change on campus.
“The project was started and was carried out by two students ? one a senator, Andy Baukney, and one a cabinet member, Noah Kuschel,” LaBoda said. “But, these two people developed the project as students ? independent of student government ? and it is important that any student knows they can initiate a project like this.
“Students need to know that they have the power to effect change,” LaBoda continued.
To suggest movies for the committee visit www.sa.rochester.edu and fill out the recommendation form.
Hildebrandt can be reached at thildebrandt@campustimes.org.
