Toronto Goes Bollywood!

Toronto is hosting the International Indian Academy Awards on June 25th which celebrate the past year's Bollywood films and actors. India has the largest movie industry in the world.

There is alot of buzz in Toronto this week with the arrivals of the Indian film stars into Pearson airport.  The success of movies such as Slum Dog Millionaire has brought them to a wider audience.

The Greater Toronto Area has a large South Asian population.  When I worked at the Ajax Public Library, I helped start a collection of Hindi movies which proved to be very popular.

Serving the Viewers' Advisory needs of newcomers to the country who speak languages other than English (and French in Canada) can be a challenge.  When the selector or advisor does not understand the languages, suggestions can be difficult to do.

Fortunately there are vendors who specialize in foreign language movies and can provide assistance in selection and movie content.  Making connections with the communities can help determine interests and titles.

Does your library provide foreign language movie collections?  How do you provide Viewers' Advisory Service for these films?

ALA and Viewers' Advisory

I have been looking at the ALA conference's workshop lineup and noticed that there will be a Viewers' Advisory session.  Here is the summary:

Two Thumbs Up: The Genres, Directors and Films You Should Know to Give Awesome Viewers Advisory

Organizer/Speaker: Kati Irons, Music and Film Librarian, Selection and Acquisition, Pierce County (Wash.) Library. Additional Speaker: John Fossett, Collection Manager, Kitsap Regional Library (Wash.).
Is your idea of "Viewer's Advisory" pointing to IMDB and walking away? Are you not exactly sure what Viewers Advisory or IMDB are? You don't have to read every book to give great Reader's Advisory, so why feel that way about movies? This mini-survey course of notable genres, directors and films will give you tools to face Viewer's Advisory questions with confidence.

Is anyone going to ALA in New Orleans this year?  Can someone provide feedback if they attended this session?  I would like to know if there are any new tips.  If either of the presenters is reading this blog, please contact me!

I can't believe that it has been two and half years since I gave my session on Viewers' Advisory at the Ontario Public Library Association Conference!

Cool Blog - Libraries at the Movies

I just found this cool blog as I was searching around to see what I was going to write about this week.

Libraries at the Movies looks at movies that include libraries.  For some movies, libraries and librarians play a key role, while in others, libraries are less prominent. No matter how big or how small the role of the library is in the movie, libraries are stars!

This theme would make a great display or DVD list.

Check out the blog: http://librariesatthemovies.blogspot.com/