Educational Media Collection Becomes Part of the Media Center

To better serve the University of Washington community and beyond, the Educational Media Collection (EMC), of Classroom Support Services, a division of the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, has been transferred to the University Libraries. The EMC is a diverse, historical collection of between 6,000 - 7,000 titles covering a wide range of educational topics in formats such as 16mm, VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and audio tape. In the past, only educational (K-20) instructors and government agencies were able to use or rent titles from the EMC for in-classroom and instructional use. It is the University Libraries' goal, whenever legally and operationally possible, to make all of its holding as widely accessible as possible.

We believe that merging the EMC into the University Libraries will expand media instruction and research opportunities, as well as consolidate media discovery tools, for researchers and scholars. As with other media in the Libraries collection, the Media Center will restrict lending of the EMC to University Library borrowers and to Orbis Cascade Alliance borrowers. Due to the uniqueness or fragility of certain titles, some titles may be restricted to "Library Use Only." Similarly, due to the fragility of the 16mm films, these items will no longer be available for viewing. However, the University Libraries and Classroom Support Services will seek out and acquire--if possible-- copies of select 16mm films on such formats as DVD and VHS. Please contact the Media Center with questions about viewing the EMC's 16mm film content.

The EMC web site will remain active until all of the EMC titles are processed. The processing, locating, and reformatting of the titles will be done over time, but as a first step, the DVD and VHS tapes were moved to the University Libraries Media Center on December 15, 2008 and will be available for circulation upon request. For a list of holdings, please consult the EMC website (http://www.css.washington.edu/emc/) and forward all requests for titles to the Media Center at medialib@u.washington.edu or via phone at 206-543-6051.

Updates and other information about the EMC's integration into the Media Center's collections will be posted here: http://www.css.washington.edu/emc/

For questions, contact John Vallier (vallier@u.washington.edu) or Jill McKinstry (jillmck@u.washington.edu)