Coordinator of diocesan video center happiest when tapes leave shelves

The first time Pat Taaffe, coordinator, tried to catalogue all the educational videos available from the Albany Diocesan Video and Resource Center, the list ran more than 600 pages.

She then tried printing it in a smaller font, but it was still more than 400 pages long. Finally, by cross-referencing the videos, she reduced the catalogue a "manageable" length: 271 pages.

There are a lot of videos in the resource center, located in the Pastoral Center in Albany. More than a thousand tapes jam its shelves, covering everything about the Church, from sainthood to sexuality. The catalogue itself costs $15, just to cover printing costs.

Ins and outs

Ms. Taaffe has actually weeded out a lot of the videos since she took over the center two years ago. She came there from Our Lady of Mercy parish in Colonie, where she served as catechist leader. At her new job, she found a lot of very old videotapes that were no longer relevant.

"Anything that had a black case" or was released before 1995 was thrown away, she joked, pointing at the few older videos in plain, black plastic cases with typewritten labels that made the cut. A lot of other videos were added to the shelves, the most popular ones being anything on the sacraments.

Diocesan offices, parishes, schools, prisons, hospitals and especially religious education programs rent the videos for $5 apiece. The resource center also stocks all the catechetical textbooks currently in use in the Albany Diocese, but its main traffic is in videos. But, she cautions: "I don't think videos should `babysit' or take the place of teaching" religious ed classes.

Reviewer

The coordinator spends a lot of time watching new videos, rating them for quality and writing up descriptions to add to the catalogue. She also takes a lot of phone calls from Catholics who are searching for tapes on a particular subject, helping them choose appropriate videos and even screening the videos if asked.

"It's tedious, because of the amount of data input," she said of her work. A volunteer comes in every Friday to help with the cataloguing.

One thing the resource center doesn't stock is full-length movies. Ms. Taaffe has to tell some callers they might be better off looking for "The Song of Bernadette" at the nearest Blockbuster video-rental store.

Popular titles

The center has quite a few "best-sellers," videos that disappear off the shelves almost as soon as they're returned. Ms. Taaffe listed Lenten videos by Rev. Michael Himes, a video on First Eucharist called "Grandma's Bread" and a pastoral-care video as hot items.

The center's loaded shelves also include a few hidden treasures. For example, she raved about "Everyday Creativity," by National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones. In the video, he talks about seeing the world through new eyes. Popular religious writer Kathleen Chesto also has a few videos on family spirituality among the center's wares.

While the center does a brisk business (and Ms. Taaffe is happy to speak on its resources at any interested parish), she's most satisfied when the shelves are bare.

"I come alive when people come here," she said. "If I'm stuck here with the computer, I'm not as happy as when the phone is ringing. I don't want the videos to be on the shelves; I want them to be in the parishes and schools."

(The Video and Resource Center, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany 12203, is open Tues.-Fri., 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Call 453-6644.)

(02-13-03) [[In-content Ad]]