A Study of Information Used by Public Library Patrons To Select Videocassettes.

A sample of 300 video patrons at the Grandview Heights Public Library (Ohio) was surveyed to determine what information they used from the videocassette container to make their selections. It was expected that knowing what patrons used could help in deciding how much information to enter in bibliographic records for videocassettes. The majority of patrons made their selections by browsing, as was expected for viewers of fictional tapes. However, of the 43 non-fiction borrowers, 79.1 percent selected their videos by browsing. Fiction was strongly preferred, suggesting that the video collection is used mainly for entertainment. For all categories of borrower, the most considered items on the container were performers, summary, and title. Important to a lesser degree were artwork on the box and film rating. It is argued that very complete bibliographic records are necessary for bibliographic utilities such as OCLC. Public libraries could then edit or delete records as convenient. For libraries that must do their own cataloging, a brief record would appear to be an economical and acceptable solution. At the least, records should contain the videocassette's title, performers, and a brief summary of the videocassette. Seventeen figures/tables provide survey responses. Three appendixes contain the survey, its cover letter, and 10 tables of survey findings. (Contains 23 references.) (SLD)