Over the years, school librarians have come to understand that video is an integral part of the curriculum. In fact, audio-visual education has become such a fundamental teaching tool in schools today because it has been scientifically proven to increase learning and retention - supporting the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. In fact, teachers have overwhelmingly reported “positive student outcomes as a result of using instructional television and video and 66.3% said that students learn more when TV or video is used in the classroom.”(The Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Test results aside, both educators and students alike have benefited from many curriculum-rich video programs produced specifically for the classroom, because quite frankly, video has a lot to offer that traditional textbooks or printed material cannot.

The Age of Digital Delivery

Clearly, the VHS cassette and DVD have become staples in school libraries, and they will continue to be essential educational tools for many years to come. But now, the focus of many school districts throughout the country has turned to video-on-demand and how best to deliver digital video to the classroom.

Changing History

The year 2005 marks the 20th anniversary of Library Video Company. With it comes one of the greatest milestones in the Company’s history and a significant change in the way that educational digital video products are sold to schools. Library Video Company has recently acquired the Video Networking Division of SAFARI Technologies, the leading provider of networking solutions for schools. The new entity, SAFARI Video Networks, allows Library Video Company to be a digital, as well as a hard copy, video distributor.

Librarians are used to choosing the content that makes sense for their students, their curriculum and their budgets. Shouldn’t that also be the case for digitally-delivered video?

Now, with the marriage of SAFARI Video Networks and Library Video Company, educators will finally get what they’ve been asking for - choice - through the first truly open digital video network designed for schools.

Choice

Library Video Company’s relationship with over 600 suppliers will give educators access to the highest quality content on the leading digital video delivery network. For the first time, educators will be able to choose the best educational content in each subject and grade level and access it digitally - thus allowing schools to select their video content from a multitude of educational video publishers.

If an educator wants to have a digital video delivery system to be able to support the best programs from the best educational video publishers, SAFARI Video Networks’ system easily provides the solution. A closed system would restrict their choice to whatever content is available from a single supplier.

And why is this so important? As mentioned earlier, educators realize the importance of visual learning and the fact that video has become an integral part of the curriculum. If the teacher is accustomed to using Between the Lions to focus on particular vowels, consonants and word families to improve literacy, he or she should still be able to continue selecting those programs that work best in the classroom, even if the school utilizes a digital library. If the teacher prefers to use video that has been produced specifically for the classroom - like the Schlessinger Media library - he or she can choose to do that too.

Video-on-demand allows educators to use what they have been accustomed to using and much more. It provides teachers with a rich library of educational programming quite literally, at their fingertips. Video-on-demand allows teachers to customize the visual components of individual lessons or of entire units. With it the classroom teacher is better equipped to address the diverse needs of the students and to provide the jewel of differentiated instruction that is often the key to student learning.

Educators want to handle their own collection development and to choose the titles and/or libraries they want. The SAFARI solution gives them that.

Model of the Future

What also sets SAFARI apart from other digital video providers is the manner in which the video is delivered. Video streaming via the internet is not an efficient and effective method of digitally delivering video in schools. The technology coordinators in the schools prefer a locally hosted server over internet streaming, which seriously degrades a T-1 internet connection with as little as four concurrent streams. A local server doesn’t interfere with the other educational needs that the internet can fulfill. SAFARI’s server handles video internally, but it is a solution that provides the school with more than just video-on-demand.

SAFARI's solution is a complete visual learning management tool that coordinates:

• Videoconferencing (for distance education or professional development)
• school news
• school bell and intercom
• video security
• self-created video content management such as important lectures or the school play

It is a forward-thinking modular solution that is flexible enough to grow with the school’s needs and budget.

For over 20 years, school librarians have trusted Library Video Company to help make their jobs easier. By carrying titles that have been carefully reviewed and selected for content that is appropriate for the classroom to offering MARC Records, Library Video Company has expanded its services to keep up with the ever-changing needs of the school librarian.

Today, the school librarian and the school/district administration can work together to bring the most robust digital solution - the Network of Choice - to our nation’s schools, one classroom at a time.