"It would be great to have a room with a videotape where the clients can watch the videos, especially videos that last 30 minutes or so."

"Why don’t you own the video, ‘Oklahoma’?"

"How about checking out videos for one week and returning them at any library?’

"Please get more current video titles"

"I love your selection of videos! I have been to many libraries in Rochester and the Gates library, by far, has the BEST selection of videos. I also love the three-day loaning policy. Keep up the great work!"

At least 50% of the suggestions this Library Director receives in the public suggestion box relate to audiovisual materials, with the bulk of those suggestions about our video collection. Every survey of Gates library users requests more and newer videos. Our Media Services Librarian, Melissa McHenry, strives very hard to meet user requests. We will purchase most specific title requests, like ‘Oklahoma’ which we know we owned once and which must have been discarded for condition and not replaced.

We’d love to have the space to provide a viewing area, using headphones, in the library, as we do for compact discs and cassettes. We’d love to have enough copies of the popular video titles that we could offer a one-week loan period. We provide a one week loan period now for non-fiction videos which are not as much in demand as the fiction videos. We can’t keep pace with the fiction video demand and a three-day loan period seems to satisfy the majority of our users.

As to returning videos at other libraries, while that would be a convenience for non-residents who use our facility, the fact is those videos were bought with Gates taxpayer money for the benefit of Gates residents. Our library’s focus must be to keep those users who pay for our services happy. If we received county funding or more meaningful state funding than the present static formula of 31 cents per capita, then broadening our service focus would be in order.

It is hard to please everyone when many want the same resources at the same time. Sometimes the best choice is a compromise that meets the interests of most of the taxpayers most of the time. Please know your feedback is welcomed and considered. Keep those suggestions coming!