Dear all,

I have had quite a few messages asking me to share the responses to my 
recent questions on DVD security. I have attempted to collate the responses 
below. Not all the people who responded are listed below, as their replies 
were covered by others, but I would like to thank you for your response as 
it helped me to see  the overall picture.

Lisa

I was wondering whether you could tell me whether your DVDs are on open 
access? 
No (Univ Winchester)
Our DVDs are on open access. (Calderdale College)
At Coventry University DVDs were put on the open shelves & made available 
for loan during the summer. It was decided not to put the videos out as the 
library has had a major push for self issue & as the machines have 
desensiters built in they would damage the magnetic tapes. 
Our DVDs are in their cases on open access. (Warwick) 
Closed access (Glasgow language Centre)
Yes. All except the really expensive managemwnr dvds. (Strathclyde)
Our DVD's are not out on open access. the empty boxes are on the shelves 
and the actual DVD's are kept behind the desk. The staff retrieve the 
corresponding DVD, place it into the box and then issue it to the students 
in the box that was out on display. (Lincoln)
The discs are stored in drawers behind the Issue Desk so self issue is not 
possible (City)

What security do you use if they are on open access?
They are triggered with 3-M Tattle Tape (on the disc itself), but are kept 
on the library shelves in boxes (the boxes are similar to those used with 
commercially-produced films you see in the shops) (Calderdale College)
it all had to be tagged with 3M DVD tags & the parameters on the library 
management system had to be changed. It was decided not to use proloc or 
other security cases because of the cost involved compared to the value of 
what was on the open shelves & the fact that this would mean that items 
couldn't be self-issued. (Coventry Uni)
At sussex we store them in perspex cases with special opening equipment, 
which does mean that they can only be issued in staff hours. This is not a 
problem at the moment as we do not have extended opening hours without staff
All the books in Temporary Reserve / Ready Text are RFID tagged, and the 
intention had been to tag the DVDs with RFID tags too, but we an out of 
time! DVDs have remained in a cabinet, which we've moved to the main 
staffed issue desk, and so are not self-service (unlike other Ready Text 
books). We attempted to RFID tag DVDs the other week but ran into problems -
 alarms weren't triggering properly - and so we are pushing our supplier 
quite hard to get a fix for this (we were told they would work, and 
supplied with special round RFID tags).

We looked into external polycases like those used by some highstreet 
retailers some years ago, but decided these weren't cost effective (and not 
conducive to self-issue, either). If RFID can be made to work, I think it's 
definitely the best fix. (Exeter)
We use the 3M trigger which seals down onto this disc (only a problem if 
disk is double-sided, which is pretty rare). We are just about to put on 
RFID tags too. (Warwick)
At Chelsea College of Art & Design Library (one of the 6 colleges that form 
the University of the Arts London), we use 3M security tags for our DVDs. 
They are almost all on the open shelves; the majority of them being for 
loan. 
We "bug" the individual discs with the same 3M Tattle-tape DCD2 which we 
use for music CDs and have had no complaints about that. We don't bug the 
boxes. (Anglia Ruskin)
We have been using the 3m triggers for cds for a long time. 3m triggers are 
also used for books. We have not had any problems despite some warnings 
that it affects playing. We also write the barcode and the name of the 
Library on the label. (Strathclyde)
Tattle tape is stuck to the discs themselves. Seems to work OK by and 
large. Biggest problem is occasionally staff check boxes in and then 
discover later that the set is not complete. (City)

What issues arise from this?
To offset anticipated loss/damage to discs we have as a matter of policy 
since we started to record on DVD made masters of ERA recorded materials, 
from which replacements can be made if necessary. We also invested in a 
CD/DVD repair kit. We have been pleasantly surprised so far, in that we 
have had only a couple of losses & 1 case of damage (DVD placed in 
microwave by 'friend' of borrower). The thing we have had to be careful 
with is checking items when they are returned as we have had several cases 
where discs & cases have been mixed up & in one case someone accidentally 
returned an extra disc that belonged to them.Theft so far doesn't seem to 
have been a problem, but this may be because of the nature of our 
collection, which contains relatively few film titles of the Hollywood 
blockbuster type. We think the numbering system we use helps deter thieves 
because they would have to browse the whole collection, rather than finding 
everything they might fancy in one block. (Coventry Uni)
which does mean that they can only be issued in staff hours. This is not a 
problem at the moment as we do not have extended opening hours without 
staff (Sussex)
The collection, which is meant to support Film Studies etc is viewed mainly 
by the students as free Blockbusters, so complaints from film students that 
things are often unavailable. The leisure viewers tend to treat the disks 
with zero respect, so we have a pretty high damage rate (what do they *do* 
to them to get them in such a state??). Depends I guess on what kind of 
stock you have… Self-service means that the staff don't routinely look at 
the packages when they return, so we have increasingly frequent occurrences 
where the case is for a particular film, but the disc is something else 
(music CDs, DVDs of Deal No Deal, even a porn dvd), and our Millennium LMS 
software is only able to tell us who had it last, and as this is usually 
the person who reports the problem, so we have no way of getting them back. 
We're ending up spending quite a bit of staff time & money replacing 
things, or in some cases failing to replace them because they are no longer 
available. (Warwick)
Unissued discs set off our security gates, but then that is the point, so 
we can monitor what should not be going out the doors. (Chelsea)
Negative: Students can't browse covers, although they can browse via the 
catalogue. Positive: Very few missing DVDs. DVDs never out of sequence 
(well, hardly ever!) (Glasgow)
We started off keeping all the discs behind the issue counter and shelving 
only the empty boxes, but this rapidly became too time-consuming for 
counter staff, and we now leave single discs on the open shelves, to be 
self-issued, and only keep sets of discs behind the counter, so we can 
check they are complete on issue and return. We also have a check-in note 
on all DVDs to ensure staff check the boxes are full when they have been 
returned via self-service - I usually have one or two empty boxes handed to 
me per week, so have to email the last borrower and ask them to bring in 
the disc (Anglia Ruskin)
Remembering to desensitise and then resensitise on return. It doesn't 
prevent damage to the disc. Do use the 3m triggers because cheaper triggers 
are more fiddly to put on. (Strathclyde)
a) it takes extra time to issue them because issue desk staff have to root 
around and find the disc(s), b) need to stick labels on the cases 
indicating how many discs there should be on return and reminding staff to 
check before discharging, c) takes extra time to re-file discs on return. 
(City)

If your DVDs are not on open access, then what issues does this raise?
They are a fiddle to go to the drawers and retrieve the right DVD (Univ 
Winchester)
Some of our more highly-priced DVDs are kept in closed access, but we are 
reviewing this as we have to get these from a room that isnot near our 
issue desk, when they are requested. In short, this takes time, especially 
when we are busy. (Chelsea)
We put the empty cases on the shelf and the dvds behind the issue desk. 
Sometimes the cases are not reshelved on the open access shelves but 
shelved with the actual dvds. it's a minor quibble. (Strathclyde)

How do you store your DVDs e.g. in boxes with security measures on the 
outside of the box; in perspex cases that can only be opened with special 
equipment etc?
Because we keep the empty DVD case on the open shelves, and the disc behind 
the counter in a smaller perspex case with the title on the spine. We do 
not make the cases secure or the discs. (Univ Winchester)
How are your DVDs issued? Do you use self-issue? Or can your DVDs only 
issued during staffed hours? Are there any other solutions?
No self-issue – we don’t have it. Borrowers bring the case to the counter 
and staff retrieve the disc from shelves behind the Issue Desk. (Univ 
Winchester)
Our DVDs are either 1-week loan items, or reference. We do not have self-
issue at Chelsea. 
We don't do self issue for dvds so everything goes through the Issue Desk. 
I'm sure that if you were 100% consistent on where you put the barcode then 
it could be done. (Strathclyde)
The empty box goes out on the shelves. The DVD goes in slim cases into a 
DVD storage cabinet behind the desk. We did start to put special DVD tattle 
on the DVD disc, as well as the barcode. But found that as this disrupted 
the playing of the DVD this was a problem and so stopped, so the DVD's do 
not have any security o them now. (Lincoln)
The DVD's are only issued through the desk. BUT they appear to be regularly 
returned through the self issue systems which means they cannot be checked 
and are often returned minus the disc. (Lincoln)

Has anyone had any issues with putting out DVD boxes (without the DVDs in 
them) and finding that they are stolen for their art work?
Yes! We couldn’t understand why some of the empty boxes were going missing 
until we realised it was probably to box pirate or downloaded DVDs. This is 
a recent phenomenom! (Univ Winchester)
We occasionally find that we accept DVD cases that do not have their discs. 
This is mainly due to issue desk staff not checking items on return. We are 
tightening up on this. (Chelsea)


Lisa Foggo
Academic Liaison Librarian (Humanities Cluster)
J.B. Morrell Library,
University of York Library & Archives,
Heslington,
York,
YO10 5DD 

Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 01904 434253