Videos

You can search for, and request, videos across all locations with The CAT, the Libraries’ online catalog. (For 16mm films in the MediaTech collection go to the Search Medianet search page).

To begin searching:

• use the ADVANCED search page

• change MATERIAL TYPE (below the search boxes) to VIDEO MATERIAL

You can type title words, directors’ names, actors’ names, or other keywords as search terms.

You can combine search terms by typing them in separate search boxes and linking them with AND (at the far right of the search box).

Limit search by Library Location:

To limit a search to videos owned by a particular library within the Penn State Libraries, select the library location from the drop down menu under In Library on the Advanced Search page. You can request a video from any library location with the I WANT IT button in The CAT:

Limit Search by Title:

Type the title of the film in the TITLE search box. Begin with the first word following “a,” “and,” or “the,” if applicable.

Limit search by Topic:

Type your search term(s) in the TOPIC: TITLE + SUBJECT search box.

Limit search by Language:

To find videos in a particular language or subtitled in a particular language select a language from the drop down menu under Language on the Advanced Search page.

Limit Search by Person’s name

Search for a director, actor, or writer’s name by entering first name last name in the KEYWORD search box.

Limit search by Genre

Enter a genre (film noir, horror films, mystery, etc.) in the LC Subject Heading search box.

Request films owned by one of the University Libraries locations:

Request films owned by MediaTech

You can use this search page to search for video resources from the MTSS, University Park catalog. Please note that only films in VHS and DVD formats in the MTSS video collection are searchable via the CAT; to search the entire MTSS collections, use this search page.

MediaTech Catalog Search

Main Search Options

Search Field and Search Menu:

Type the words/ phrase to search for in the search field. To find exact phrases, enclose the words in double quotes (e.g. "gone with the wind"). To combine terms using AND, OR, or NOT select Advanced search in the Search pull down menu.

Limit Items Menu

Use this pull down menu to select how many items Medianet will display at one time from the matches it finds for your search.

Type of Search Menu

Use this pull down menu to choose to search by keywords, title, series, or subject.

Additional Search Options

• Media Format Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for your media type search. For example, if you were looking for a tape that could be played on a VCR you would select VHS from the menu.

• Audience Level Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for an audience level search. For example, if you are planning a university lecture, you may not want to select titles which pertain to subjects for a kindergarten audience!

• Language Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for a language search.

• Sound Type Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for a sound type search.

• Collection Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for which collections a title may belong to.

• Office Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for which office a title may be found in.

• Year Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for which year a title may be produced in.

• Acquisition date Menu:

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of choices for how recently a title was added to the catalog.. Hint: Enter “*” in the search terms entry box to list all titles added within the selected number of days.

• Mediagraphy Menu

  Use this pull down menu to reveal a list of available mediagraphies. A mediagraphy is a group of titles that has been selected as a subset of the full catalog to aid in searching.