Like many movie buffs, Peter Bailey is frustrated by the closing of video rental stores in St. Albert. Fortunately, Bailey is in a position to do something about it. And he has, just in time for Christmas.
The St. Albert Public Library is starting up a new loan service called Quick Flicks that will make multiple copies of the best, newest and most popular box office DVD releases available to its patrons.
“Blockbuster was the last straw,” said Bailey, the library’s director and an admitted movie buff. “I’m a little perturbed about the lack of outlets. That’s just the way things are going.”
While he was frustrated with the loss of video rental agencies in St. Albert, he was also thrilled to realize that it made the library the premiere destination for DVD and Blu-Ray borrowers.
According to the library’s statistics, its movie collection (including almost 8,000 standard DVDs and almost 500 newly added Blu-Ray titles) is among the most popular sections of the entire facility. Altogether, the movies have circulated more than 160,000 times this year alone.
“It’s quite popular,” Bailey added. “It’s gone up every year. We’ve certainly seen no reduction in the increase in interest.”
In comparison, the amount of borrowing of the print circulation (i.e. the actual books) is about the same as last year.
The new Quick Flicks DVD and Blu-Ray collection will contain both adult and children’s titles including Cars 2, Hangover 2, and Crazy, Stupid Love. There will be approximately 750 copies of 200 different titles. Although space for new additions has always been a challenge for the library, Bailey figures that it won’t be a huge problem for Quick Flicks.
“We hope the DVDs will be in customers’ homes most of the time, rather than on the library shelves.”
The library will be closed for the holidays starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 24 until it reopens on Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 9 a.m.
For more information, call 780-459-1530 or visit www.sapl.ab.ca.
Quick Flicks
o Located on the main floor near the DVD section. Just look for the 'Audio Visual' sign.
o Movies will be loaned for three
days, with no renewals.
o It is considered a browsing collection, meaning you will only be able to borrow what is in stock. No holds are allowed.
o There will be a limit of six Quick Flicks per library card.
o Overdue fines will be $1 per day - the same as the standard DVD collection.
o Every title in the Quick Flicks collection will also be accompanied by one copy of the DVD in the standard collection in case you want to borrow that for a full week.
