Finding Nostalgia on the Library DVD Shelves

As a millennial, I have fond memories of going to Blockbuster on a Friday evening with my family to rent that weekend’s movie (usually something from the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen collection if I was picking). Fast-forward a few decades and, thanks to streaming services, the need to leave my couch to find a movie has disappeared. All that convenience is great - thousands of movies and TV series at your fingertips sounds amazing - until you realize that you’ve spent so much time scrolling to find a movie that you’ve basically run out of time to watch one!

A few months ago, my family decided to take a break from our streaming subscriptions. Working at the library, I knew there were plenty of DVDs to choose from if and when we wanted to watch a movie - but I hadn’t anticipated how much better this would make our at-home movie night!

Suddenly I had that same Blockbuster experience: deciding in advance what to watch, reading the backs of the DVD cases to see what might be good, and allowing myself some time to get excited about what we’d be watching later that week. There was less decision fatigue with this method because by the time movie night came around, we’d already chosen something and that endless scrolling had been replaced with happy anticipation.

While there’s definitely an added element of fun by going to your local branch and just picking something from the DVDs on the spot, if you have a general idea of what you’d like to watch, you can use the library’s online catalog to help. A search for DVDs on the library catalog brings up an overwhelming 34,128 options, so I wanted to share how you can use our search filters to narrow that down to a more manageable number.

When on the library’s catalog webpage select the dropdown arrow next to “Everything” to narrow your search to “DVDs” then click on “Search” to get started.

On the left-hand side of the page you’ll see a column with a variety of categories to limit your search. Keep reading for a quick overview of how you can leverage these to find your perfect movie!

Author: Usually we think of Author as an individual who’s written a book, but in this sense it’s actually the distribution company of the film. Looking for an independent movie? Try narrowing things down to IFC Films. Want something light and romantic? Try selecting Hallmark Channel. Picking something for the kids? How about Nickelodeon? There are lots of options to search through, simply select “View All” and then check off what you want to include (or what you want to exclude)

Format: Because we’ve already selected DVDs at the start, this should show Video Disc as the option with the most results already. To make sure nothing else gets mixed into your results, check the Video Disc box and “Include”

Recommended Age: Planning a family movie night? Use this to narrow your search to Juvenile. 

Subject: This can be a really helpful search tool if you have a general idea of what you want to watch but aren’t sure beyond that. Open up the “View All” link and scroll through to narrow your search. Feeling like a laugh? Include only Comedy films. Have a toddler at home? You can even narrow down the subject to simply “Elmo”! Whatever you’re in the mood for there’s a Subject description to match it.

Language: The library has DVDs in a variety of languages, narrow down your search to include those you’d like to watch in whether it’s your native language, or you’re looking to improve your fluency in another language!

Publication Date: Looking for a classic? Only interested in new releases? Use the Publication Date ranges to choose when the movies you’re viewing came out. If you have a more specific date in mind, know that when you select an initial range you’ll then get an option to narrow it down even more.

Library: Planning on picking up at your local branch and don’t have time to wait for your hold to get there? You can use this feature to see only the movies that are currently at a specific branch.

Collection: The majority of your DVD options will fall under Films and TV shows, but you can use this to filter in or out Language Instruction and Music Recordings also.

Material Type: Having already selected DVDs at the start this should automatically be set to DVD, but if not, this is a way to narrow your search to just DVDs.

Shelf Location: Only want Blu-rays, or maybe more specifically only Dramas on Blu-ray? Use this filter to narrow down what sort of movie you’re searching through.

Finally, if you aren’t ready to completely give up on streaming, don’t forget that you have access to that through the library too! Just take a look at our Virtual Branch - you’ll find movies and more there, all accessible with your library card!

I hope you find these tips helpful in planning your next movie night. Feel free to leave a comment with your movie recommendation from our catalog!

- by Joanna, Technology Instruction