Video and Media Resources  

The University Library is committed to supporting the use of video in teaching and learning at the University of Virginia. In addition to our extensive video collection and specialized viewing equipment and spaces, we offer a number of services to facilitate the use of the Library’s video collections.  In addition to the services listed here, Matt Ball, the Media Librarian, is available to consult with faculty and students to help locate appropriate video content for a class or research project, purchase new content, plan screenings or film festivals, and offer assistance with technical and intellectual property issues.  For questions, please contact Matt Ball.

Media in the Library
Clemons Library has over 47,000 videos on DVD, VHS, and Laser Disc. The video collection is about 65% feature films and 35% documentaries.  The collection is particularly strong in Indian, Spanish, and German films, and to some extent Russian films.  Although training videos, language CDs, or audio books are popular, we have chosen not to collect them because of the difficulty in processing and providing access to them, and because most of these items are readily available at public libraries and book stores.

Collection Building
By and large, the current collection has been built as a result of faculty and student requests, though the media librarian will also purchase videos that are rare, hard to find, or aligned with particular research interests at U.Va.  We will gladly purchase relevant materials for curricular and research use. Just submit a purchase request.

Curricular Focus
The library purchases video materials in direct support of curricular needs across all disciplines represented at the University.  We purchase all titles requested by faculty, and most titles requested by students if they are needed for school.  We also purchase materials that contribute to the broader study of media, including critically acclaimed titles, award winners, and films from specific studios and/or distributors. 

In aligning our collection policy with the teaching and research needs of our faculty, we pay special attention to titles that cover such topics as (in no particular order): global media, comparative media studies, Latina/o media studies, American cinema and television history, feminist media, queer studies, sexuality, and race. 

Because the study of media necessarily includes everything from esoteric documentaries and period dramas to sitcoms and reality TV, the collection includes titles from a broad variety genres (about 85% of which were requested by faculty) which explains why the collection has titles ranging from Citizen Kane and Hostel to The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Wire.  A note about television shows, because a few seasons of a television show are usually enough to give scholars a sense of what the show is about, we usually do not have an entire run of a television series.