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How much anime do you actually have?
As of July 2003, the library contains about 650 master tapes, 850 circulating tapes, 350 DVDs, 650 CD-ROMs, 20 audio CDs, and 30 laserdiscs. Put it all together, and we have enough anime to run an all-day/all-night marathon showing for the span of an entire semester. Needless to say, no one has tried this yet.
I'm trying to pick something to borrow... what's good?
Ummm... lots of stuff. The librarian is happy to offer suggestions, but it helps a bunch if you mention what else you've liked, or a series that's similar to what you're looking for. For instance, "I really liked the voice actress for Lina Inverse in Slayers... has she done anything else?" We have everything from kid's shows to artistic experimental anime to gory violence, so "good" depends a lot on what genres you like. Note that you will often get a more thoughtful answer via email than by asking during the chaos of checkouts.
Why can't I check out DVDs?
Where have you been? We have been circulating DVDs since January 2005. You can view a list of our circulating DVDs.
I'd like to check out tapes, but I can't make it to many showings.
We are now holding office hours at different times during the week at the Anime Club office in Walker, room 50-356. The schedule is given on the main library page, so feel free to drop by at one of those times to return tapes or to pick some new ones up.
I only got one tape at the last checkout, even though I asked for three!
We strongly suggest that you ask for more than three tapes in order to be guaranteed to get three. Some of them might already have been checked out last week, and other people may want the same tapes this week too, so we have to allocate them as best we can. Note that you will never be penalized for asking for lots of tapes: a person who asks for only one tape has exactly the same chance of getting it as someone who asks for that same tape rated first priority plus ten other tapes ranked lower.
When's the best time to request tapes?
The usual schedule is that the librarian will process new items into the library over the weekend and update the web catalog by Monday or Tuesday for that Friday's showing, so it's best to wait until that happens to get the first crack at new additions to the library (you can check the "edited" date at the bottom of the page to see when the catalog has last been updated).
Okay, how do you really allocate tapes?
By the ordering in your request. If you ask for a tape as your second selection, and someone else asks for it as their third, you get it. In the rare case of two people requesting the same tape at the same priority, it goes to the person who sent in their request first. However, we can't force people to turn tapes in promptly or predictably, so sometimes you will end up with a lower-priority tape than you should because your first choice hasn't been returned yet.
How else can I make the librarian's life easier?
Turn in all your items at the beginning of the evening. The vast majority of the librarian's gray hairs come from trying to process returns during intermission and immediately circulating those same items back to someone else: having them known to be returned at the start of the evening is much easier and avoids the librarian having to bring backup tapes.
When are you getting...?
Sooner than we were planning to before you asked. We have a limited budget to buy stuff and a limited amount of manpower to get tapes into the circulating library, so we always have a gigantic acquisitions list. You can tweak our priorities by asking for stuff, since we're far more likely to buy a series we know nothing about if we know that there's at least one person who wants to watch it. Just don't expect to ask for something one week and borrow it the next.
Your tape is messed up!
If you happen to find that one of our library items is mislabeled, or damaged, or otherwise screwed up, please let the librarian know so we can correct the problem. With so many items in our library, it's perfectly possible that you're the first person to watch it... or you could just happen to be the next person after the guy who accidentally scratched that CD up completely and didn't mention it to us.
Do you have any bootlegs?
No, we don't. We spend a great deal of our budget buying legitimate copies of anime from domestic distributors, with an occasional Japanese import. We also have some non-profit fansubs in our collection, but we replace those with commercial copies as the series are released (or we remove the tapes if we can't replace them).
Do you have any hentai?
No, we don't. Parents, please note that this does not mean that all our tapes are suitable for younger viewers: we don't collect things which are way over the top, but most of our library patrons are college students or older, so there are plenty of titles left which would be rated R either for violence or sexual situations if they were normal movies. Please ask if you're unsure of the suitability of a title: we can usually flag the questionable ones for you.
Do you accept donations?
Absolutely. A lot of people are replacing their VHS copies of anime with DVDs, and we'd be happy to take those old tapes off your hands, for instance. You can even take a tax write-off for it. We're also especially looking for donations of soundtrack CDs, since our collection of those is still in its infancy. Several people have been helpful in donating CD-R's to our digital catalog, too. We've also started a manga collection, and will accept manga volumes (any language is fine). We can provide an acknowledgement letter for tax deduction purposes, so please inquire about this when you make your donation.
How else can I help?
We're always looking for people to help us maintain the collection or get involved in club activities in general. Send an email to the librarian if you'd like to get involved in running the library, or just come to our showings and introduce yourself to the officers.
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