Locating Commercially Produced Videos

Guide to Video Distributors

This selective bibliography is intended to help users of video materials locate feature films, documentaries, and educational programs available for purchase and/or rental. These publications are generally available in public and university libraries.

Most of these resources list videos by title, give additional information on program content, date, running time, ordering information, and provide subject indexes.

BOWKER'S COMPLETE VIDEO DIRECTORY. New York: R.R. Bowker. Annual with mid-year supplement. 3 vols.

Volume One covers approximately 37,000 entertainment and performance videos including feature films, music videos, cartoons, television programs, and plays. Volume Two and Three list over 52,000 documentaries, sports, educational, and other special interest programs. Includes genre, subject and closed- captioned indexes.

EDUCATIONAL FILM & VIDEO LOCATOR. 4th ed. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1990. 2 vols.

Lists 52,000 educational films and videos available for rent from 46 college and university media centers. Includes annotations, rental information, producers/distributors directory, and a subject index.

FILM & VIDEO FINDER. 2nd ed. Albuquerque, NM: Access Innovations, 1989. 3 vols.

The National Information Center for Educational Media (NICEM) was established in 1964 to develop an automated storage and retrieval system containing bibliographic information on nonprint educational media. This index lists 160,000 film and video titles of an educational, informational, or documentary nature.

VARIETY'S VIDEO DIRECTORY PLUS. New York: Bowker Electronic Publishing. Quarterly updates.

CD-ROM equivalent of BOWKER'S COMPLETE VIDEO DIRECTORY. Allows searching by a number of access points including keyword, subject, performer/director, award, language, dubbed/narrated/subtitled, manufacturer and MPAA rating. Full- text reviews from VARIETY are available for some of the feature films listed.

THE VIDEO SOURCE BOOK. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc. Annual with supplements. 2 vols.

Guide to 126,000 programs currently available on videotape or videodisc from more than 1,770 distributors. Lists feature films, shorts, documentaries, educational, and training videos available for purchase or rental.

VIDEOLOG. San Diego, CA: Trade Service Publication, Inc. Loose-leaf service.

A weekly loose-leaf service reporting new listings of video releases as they are announced by the manufacturers and film studios. Emphasizes feature films but includes some educational and general interest titles. Intended for use by retail video stores that rent or sell videocassettes and discs.

U.S. GOVERNMENT FILMS AND VIDEOS

National Audiovisual Center. 1986 MEDIA RESOURCE CATALOG. (revised irregularly). Supplement.

The National Audiovisual Center was established to serve as the central source for all federally produced audiovisual materials and to make them available to the public through information and distribution services. This catalog and its supplement include videocassettes, films, and slide/sound programs on over 400 topics. (National Audiovisual Center, National Archives and Records Administration, Customer Services Section PY, 8700 Edgeworth Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743.)