Need to use a video/DVD for research purposes – or just want to spend a couple of hours relaxing? Follow these steps to find something to watch.

At Stevenson Library:

1. Go to our catalog.
2. If you know what you want to watch, type in the title of the movie, or do an author search and type in the director’s name (surname first).
3. If you want to browse our collection, click on Library of Congress Subject search.
4. Type in the word "videos" or "dvds", and on the next screen, choose the heading with the most entries.
5. You can either scroll through this list, or narrow it down this way: click on the Limit this Search button at the top and then search on words in the author field (director), title (nouns, verbs), subject heading, publisher’s name (although I’m not sure why you’d want to, examples would be Warner, or Comedy Central, etc.).
6. Note the call number of the video or dvd and go to the 3rd floor Reserves Desk with your Bard ID.
7. Tell the student how and where you want to watch it:in the seminar room on the third floor, on one of our TVs on a carts with headphones, on one of the computers in the library with headphones.

At the Public Library

Steps:

Search the public library catalog. This catalog searches all the public libraries in the Mid-Hudson Library System – over 70 libraries. DVDs/videos can be ordered in much the same way books are ordered through ConnectNY.

1. Choose Advanced Search from the Mid-Hudson Catalog’s homepage.
2. Type in keywords from the title of the movie, and/or the author’s name (actors and director are considered authors in the public library catalog).
3. From the drop down box next to Material Type, choose either DVD or Videocassette.
4. Click on Submit.
5. Just like Bard’s catalog, if there is more than one copy of a title, you will be presented with a list of records. Choose the one that shows that a copy of the DVD/video is available, or the one that has the least number of holds (you’ll see the number of holds at the top of the table with the locations and status).
6. Click on the green Request-a-Title button at the top of the record.
7. Key in the barcode number from the back of your library card. Choose a pickup location and hit enter, the system will then ask you to enter a new PIN. PINs can be made up of letters or numbers or a combination of both. PINs should be 4-8 characters in length.

If there are no holds on the title you are requesting, you can expect to get a call or an e-mail from your local library in a couple of days telling you the DVD/video is in.

On the Web

• Go to the Internet Archive to find thousands of films – from 1950s hygiene films to forgotten classic features.
• YouTube
• Google Video