by Anastasia Tuckness

For the past couple years, things have been all quiet on the movie front. Theaters have stood empty, abandoned movie lots have led to a mere trickle of new releases, and video stores have gone out of business. But—things have not been quiet at your Ames Public Library where movies are concerned! Let me take you on a tour of the additions and improvements we’ve made just in the last 2 years.

First of all, we added a “new” movie section—so all DVDs and Blu-Rays that are new to our collection are shelved together in one spot for easy browsing. (And yes, we now have a Blu-Ray collection with a wide variety of movies!) Another favorite spot for new movies is our Quick Pick collection (which has moved back upstairs). Come check it out to find hot titles that you’d otherwise have to wait weeks on hold to see—there’s always something fresh and interesting there.

Also, our whole collection of movies has gotten some TLC from Ashley, our amazing movie purchaser. She went through every movie, genre by genre, and withdrew and replaced hundreds of movies to freshen up the collection. You can have confidence that every library movie you bring home will play well! (And if it doesn’t, let any staff person know and we’ll send it through the buffing process!) The Library now has over 20,000 DVD and Blu-Ray titles, everything from classic black and white flicks to nostalgia-inducing 1980s movies to films from all over the world to the latest superhero blockbusters.

If you miss browsing the video store, come in for a visit—you’ll find some old favorites and some you may have missed the first time. We even have titles that aren’t available on any streaming service! And if you remember a title you’d like that we don’t have, let us know; we are always purchasing items to fill customer requests.

In fact, we are always listening to our customers on several levels and seeking to reorient our practices to better suit your needs! One group of customers noted that it was difficult to find movies from the Hallmark Channel since they were scattered throughout the collection. We gathered them up (over 150 of them!) and moved them to DVD DRAMA HAL so they are now shelved all together in one spot. Process improvement, check!

Another change due to customer input, perhaps the biggest change of all of these, has been to our collection of films from around the world. We’ve always been proud of the variety of these films and how they uniquely connect us to the world of ideas. Now it will be even easier to find the films you’re interested in as we are in the process of grouping them by their language of dialogue. A French film, for example, will be shelved in DVD WORLD FRENCH with all the other French films. Even lesser-known languages will be highlighted—did you know we have films in Norwegian and Czech? Take advantage of this new system by picking one language and watching it all the way through!

Don’t forget that checking out movies is absolutely free of charge, and there is basically no limit to the number of DVDs you can check out! Think of us when planning your next sleepover party, youth lock-in, or family staycation. (Just FYI, there is a limit of 12 Blu-Rays at a time.)

For families and teens, we’ve added two mini-collections—first, the “Family Teen” collection featuring movies that will appeal to tweens and teens. We’ve also added a “Family TV” collection so that families can benefit from the 3-week checkout period for TV series. (TV series do have a limit of 12 titles per account at one time.)

Come on in and see what’s new for you! Or you’re welcome to give us a call or email for more personalized suggestions!