Starting a Parish A/V Library

6/13/2004

Contents

Objectives:

Why Start an AV Library??......

The First Things......

Funding......

Location......

Material Selection......

Inventory Control......

Check Out / Check In......

Inventory Management......

Numbering Scheme......

Category:......

Labeling.......

Packaging......

Suppliers......

Shopping Tips......

Appendices......

Sample Labels......

Other Libraries......

Objectives:

  • Encourage others to start AV Libraries their own parish
  • Share some of the experiences we’ve had starting the Audio Visual [or AV] Library at St. Ann’s Catholic Parish, Coppell. Tx. Our library is now 7 years old, and we’ve loaned over 35,000 items.
  • Provide advice, based on our experiences, on how to start and run an AV Library. We believe that it is a wonderful resource to a parish, and effective way to share the Gospel.

Why Start an AV Library??

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Mt 28: 19-20

It hit me when I read this as I was finishing a Christ Renews His Parish [CRHP] program 7 years ago, that I didn’t know how to share my faith. I spite of years of Catholic schools [many years ago], I did not understand my faith well enough to explain it to someone else. Five of us on my CRHP team felt the same way, and we ended up starting an AV library.

Why an AV Library:

  • A short sermon on Sunday morning [no matter how good it is], is not enough for Catholics to grow in our faith. We each need to take the initiative to study Scripture and earn our faith.
  • People are too busy to read much. We can listen to tapes an CD’s as we drive to work, drive the kids to school, etc.
  • Kids need a better selection of viewing material that is available on TV or at the local video rental store. Have you ever met a parent that felt that TV was good for their kids?
  • Families need a source of movies that are offer values and provide role models. When was the last time you saw movie on the life of Mother Theresa or a saint at Blockbuster??

A note on the team that started the library: In retrospect, it was interesting how it all worked. Each brought a needed skill to the team. Seven years later, three of are still involved. It’s simply amazing how the Lord works.

The First Things

If you think you want to start a library, the first thing you need to do is pray about it. This is a big commitment – a very rewarding one, but a big one. It takes time, funding [more later], and a willingness to stay in it for the long haul. Gain your spouses commitment as well. They may not be directly involved, you are signing up for a big commitment.

Next, you need the approval of your pastor. Schedule a meeting. This is too big for a hallway conversation. Questions you should discuss with him:

  • How much control does he want over the selections in the library. Does he want to approve all selections, or have someone else on the parish staff involved? See Material Selection below.
  • Does he have any particular suggestions for material, either specific titles or topics?
  • Where are you going to locate each Sunday?
  • Do you have space at the parish for storage or a room to locate in? See Location below.
  • Do you need funding? See Funding below.

Funding

Here are some suggested so

urces of funding. You can use one or a combination of them:

  • Personal contribution [fund it yourself]
  • Parish funding. Have the Pastor or Parish Council establish a budget
  • Donations from parish organizations: Men’s Club, Women’s Club, Knights of Columbus, etc.
  • Fund Raisers
  • Donation Can [our primary source]
  • Fixed fee for rentals [xx $ per week per item]

Here is how we did it at St. Ann’s:

  • As part of the approval process, we promised our Pastor that we would not ask for parish funding
  • The five of us each purchased material to donate. I’ll guess we started with about $800 in material.
  • In our first year, the Men’s Club donated $1,000.
  • A friend convinced me that we should not charge a fixed fee [the direction we were going]. This could stop people who could not afford it from using it. We should instead, trust the Lord to provide what we need. While this was very tough, this was the path we chose. In retrospect, I’m very, very glad we took this approach:
  1. Handling money slows down the checkout process. You have a short window after Mass ends to loan as many items as you can.
  2. It will prevent some that need it the most from using the material. The inventory does no good unless someone is using it. I can think of several large families that are our best customers. Money could be an issue with them. When I see them checking out a large stack of tapes for their week’s entertainment / education, I praise God for leading us to the right decision on funding.
  3. Yes, some days it gets very frustrating – a total of less that $20 in the donation can after we’ve loaned 150 items [less than 15 cents each]. This is common. But somehow it all works out. Occasionally we get a large donation. The Lord just seems to provide what we need. It really works.
  4. Yes, it is true, that with no fee, it’s harder to keep track the inventory, and people tend to keep the material longer than they should. Some seem surprised when we make a reminder call after a few months.
  5. Our pastor did want the funds kept by the parish. We turn in our donations to the parish bookkeeper. This is deposited to our account. We then turn in receipts for reimbursement. I recommend keeping a spreadsheet to double check the numbers. This has worked out very well.
  • A couple of tax considerations:
  1. Make sure all donations that are checks will appear on the parishioner’s annual giving statement. It does not apply toward any pledges they may have made, but it’s recognized as a donation to the parish. Be sure to arrange this with your bookkeeper.
  2. If you purchase material yourself for donation to the library, consider making a cash donation to the parish and getting reimbursed. I’d think this keeps it cleaner for tax purposes [but I’m not a tax guy!]

Location

Here are some alternatives:

  • We initially set up on card tables in the Church courtyard.
  • Your parish may have a permanent location you can use.
  • Bookcases are available that are designed for an AV library. See Sources below. Consider adding wheels to make it mobile.

I believe that initially, at least, you have to take the library to the people. Do not expect them to come to you. You need to be in a visible location.

In our case, one of the guys that helped start the library, designed, manufactured, and donated a large, rolling kiosk. See the St. Ann’s web site for pictures [URL below] This was absolutely awesome. We locate outdoors on a covered walkway outside one of the main doors of the church. If it’s too cold, we stay inside. We can be outside 40 to 45 weeks a year.

Material Selection

Some of the guidelines we use in material selection:

  • All Catholic material must be consistent with Catholic teaching, the Catechism, and the Magisterium. This is not a place for personal opinions. You have a responsibility to your pastor, your parish, and to God.
  • While not everything must be Catholic [particularly in Kids, family movies, and music], it cannot have anything that is inconsistent with Catholic teaching. “Left Behind” is a no-no!.
  • We do have secular films in the Family section. We look for films that are clean, and have good teaching value.
  • I don’t think you can review all material you purchase. Develop suppliers that you trust. See Suppliers below.
  • Apparitions: If you have material on unapproved apparitions, I’d recommend:
  • Make sure you have an understanding of the apparition and that is seems consistent with Catholic teaching and approved apparitions.
  • If the apparition is subsequently disapproved, pull the material immediately.

Inventory Control

There are several aspects here:

  1. Check Out / Check In control [could be the same as #1]
  2. Inventory Management
  3. Numbering scheme
  4. Category
  5. Labeling

Check Out / Check In

We started with a tab card system – 4x6 Index cards with the item’s name, stock number and room to for the borrower to sign their name & phone number. This has the advantage of being simple and inexpensive. This worked well until our volume hit about 50 or 60 items a week. It was just too slow.

We later graduated to computer. One of our volunteers donated a laptop computer. I did an internet search for library software, and evaluated three programs that would allow us to download an evaluation copy. One of my primary criteria what that it be simple to use. We were going to be staffed by volunteers – not paid staff. I ended up selecting “Video Store 4.1” by Software Store Products. Today’s price is about $300.

We’ve used this for about 5 years, and it has worked very well. We recently retrofitted every item with a bar code so we can use a scanner – this has been really slick. It not only speeds up the process, it makes the it more accurate.

Inventory Management

“Video Store” has proved to be an excellent product for Check In / Check Out. I did not find it adequate in a couple of areas:

  • I purchased a lot of material off the internet. These frequently have long descriptions of the material that I hope to use in a web site someday. “Video Store” could not store these descriptions.
  • I did not like the printed overdue lists. I wanted more information.

I ended up developing some Access [a data base manager from Microsoft] programs. I use them as follows:

  • All new inventory is input into Access.
  • Access can then “push” the new material into Video Store.
  • Access creates an ASCII file [text only] that can be imported by the label program that we use.

Unfortunately, these programs are not user friendly enough yet to share them. Someday, maybe.

Numbering Scheme

The following is slightly modified from the scheme that we use. This would be my recommendation:

  • Start the base numbers at 1000.
  • Every item or series gets a unique base number.
  • Every item within the series is assigned an alpha suffix [A, B, C, etc]. I skip “I” [looks like one] and “O” [looks like a zero]
  • If you have multiple copies of the same item, add the item number to the end [2,3,4, etc]. Don’t use an item number for 1 copy. I put a dash before the item number

This approach helps keep items organized and easily recognize that it’s part of a set. Here are some examples:

  • A Scott Hahn tape series with 10 tapes would be assigned the numbers 1000A, 1000B, 1000C,. . . 1000K. If I had a second copy, they would be 1000A-2, etc
  • A video tape series like VeggieTales would be assigned one base number, and each different tape a different alpha suffix. For example, 1001A, 1001B, etc. Multiple copies of the same item become 1000A2, etc
  • We do not include the dash in the number we use as the stock number in the computer. This is a little confusing at times, but it saves keyboarding time. If you use a scanner, this is a moot point.

Category:

Each item is assigned to a category. This helps the volunteers restock the material. The label on each item has an alpha code indicating the category. I’d recommend the following:

Alpha Code /

Category

A / Adult
K / Kids
M / Music
T / Teens
F / Family
R / Respect Life

Labeling.

We use “My Labels Premium” by Elibrium. It has worked fine, but sometimes I think it’s too complex. There are a lot of labeling programs – look around. This one was about $40. Features to look for:

  • Easy to use
  • Ability to store templates
  • Ability to import the variable data from an ASCII file, or attach directly to Access your check-in / checkout program.
  • Saves label stock by allowing you to use a partially used sheet.

I’ve evolved to 4 basic label styles:

Style

/

Description

/

Label Stock Used

Small / Item name, number & bar code. Used on CD’s & DVD’s / 1.75”X0.5”. Avery 8167 or equiv
Video / 1 placed on each end of videos. Has name, number, category, bar code / 2.625x0.875 from Onlinelabels.com
Audio / Has name, item number, bar code. One per audio tape. / Audio Tape Label, Avery 5198 or equiv
Exterior CD, DVD, Video / Placed on the exterior of CD’s, DVD’s and video tapes. / 4”x1”, Avery 5161 or equiv

See theappendix for label samples.

Packaging

Good packaging helps protect your investment. I’ve purchased a number of types of packaging:

  • All video tapes are placed in clear plastic sleeves. These protect the cardboard jacket as well as the tape itself. I’ve found the best source to be eBay. Search for “squeeze box”.
  • CD and audio tapes. These are used when someone wants to check out a few items in the set. These can be purchased locally or on the internet. Search for video supplies.

Suppliers

Supplier / Phone Number / URL / Comments
Catholic Answers / 1-888-291-8000 / / Excellent apologetics
Catholic Communications Corporation [CCC] / 800-935-2222 / Good Catholic kids videos: lives of saints, bible stories, etc.
Emmaus Road Publishing, Inc. / (800) 398-5470 /
Eternal Word Television Network /
Family Christian Bookstore / / Good source for Christian kids material
Feature Films for Families /
Franciscan University Press
Ignatius Press / 800-651-1531 /
Mardell / Similar to Family Christian
St Joseph’s Communications / 1-800-526-2151 / / Best source for Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, and many other Catholic evangelists. Will give a 20 – 25% discount..
St. Joseph Covenant Keepers / / Good apologetics, Catholic fatherhood
The Mary Foundation / Catholicity / / Limited selection, but good material. “Free’ tapes
Videos with Values / 1-800-233-4629 / / Good source for family material
Vision Video / 800-523-0226 / / Good source for family material
Software Store Products / 1-800-232-8561 / / Software
Kanecal / / Scanner - reasonably priced bar code scanner
Labels / / Labels- reasonable.

Shopping Tips

  • Get on email & mailing lists. They will inform you of sales.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts. Many places will offer discounts of 20 – 30% for church libraries.
  • If you buy in-state, ask your parish for a sales tax exemption form.
  • Video tapes and audio tapes are becoming extinct. Focus your shopping on CD’s and DVD’s. Unfortunately they cost more, and are not as durable. Also,some suppliers are slow making the change.
  • Initially I purchased a number of large tape sets such as Scott Hahn’s Gospel of John [14 audio tapes]. It’s wonderful! Unfortunately, I find that the large sets are not very popular. We even numbered every tape individually, and encourage people to check out 1 ot 2 tapes a week. Now I rarely purchase anything more than 4 tapes / CD’s. Test first – try a few and see if anyone is interested. Another downside – the bid sets are expensive.

Appendices

Sample Labels


Video End Label

Video / CD Label [placed on the back jacket]



Audio Label

Small Bar [placed directly on CDs and DVD’s]


Other Libraries

The only other Catholic Church that I’ve found with an AV library that offered any help was St Bernards in Riverdale, Maryland. They sold a book on how to start an AV library. It was only $10. Phone number is 301-277-1000

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