What we do
The Media Services team empowers instructors, students and researchers to identify, access, evaluate, and create film and media for use in teaching, learning and scholarship.
The Media Services team has built the most robust offerings of interdisciplinary streaming video available at an academic library, including such partner providers as Kanopy, Academic Video Online, Docuseek, Swank Motion Pictures, and Projectr. The day-to-day work of the Media Services team centers on triaging streaming requests and performing media digitization through Lumiere, in partnership with the Berkeley Language Center. Berkeley is known for expertise and vision with regard to media services and media collections in academic libraries.
The core signature priorities for the Library’s media portfolio include:
- Media reserves and reference
- Lumiere and other digitization initiatives
- Media licensing, collection development and management
- National leadership and advocacy for educational and scholarly uses of media
The Library’s Media Services team also:
- Provides for curricular and individual research access to collections when streaming access is not available
- Maintains legacy playback equipment and media formats
- Collaborates with instructors to find workable solutions for their media needs
- Serves as national experts through our VideoLib listserv, the national community of practice for media librarians and staff
How to reach us
Reach out to the Media Services team through our Media + making support page.
Our history
The Library began providing media services in Winter Quarter 1980, as the Audio-Visual Media Center in the basement of Moffitt Library.
We honor the small but mighty team of staff and librarians who worked tirelessly over the 44-year history of the Audio-Visual Media Center/Media Resources Center, scheduling and working the desk, splicing VHS tapes, coaching students through toggling the TV/video button, and assuaging student and instructor tears and fears when the DVD they needed to use was not available: Jim Gault, reference librarian and first head of the AudioVisual Media Center; longtime legendary director, Gary Handman; assistants Lee Jaffe, Kathleen Fitzhugh, Ann Moen, Karly Stark, Jill Schwocho; 2015 MRC interim head, Michele McKenzie; hundreds of media student library employees; and media cataloger extraordinaire Mary Louise Smith.
As of December 2023, the Media Resources Center physical service point was retired. We are continuing to focus our media services efforts on streaming and digitization initiatives.