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www Library Media Project


When one door closes another one opens.

Our work continues. Please read on.


The Library Media Project closed our Sunnyside Avenue office on the last day of April 2007. For the past 19 years, beginning in 1988 as the MacArthur Foundation Library Video Project, we have had the honor of assisting U.S. librarians with their media collection development
on a wide range of important subjects.


We are continuing to work on securing funding for an urgently needed educational project on Our Environment and the Climate Crisis. Our new office location can be found on our contact page.
If you have any questions, please email us at info@librarymedia.org


Our mission is to foster the public discourse that is central to our democracy
one library at a time.


Thomas Jefferson observed, "Information is the currency of democracy". It is an honor to contribute to these thousands of "information banks" - our country's libraries located in communities, big and small and in between, in all of the 50 states.

It was our good fortune to work with thousands of dedicated librarians who vigilantly keep the doors to free, accessible information available for so many millions in our country. Their life's work is central to the very heart of our democracy: informed public debate.

We have been honored to have worked with so many remarkable, innovative and thoughtful librarians. They are, and always will be, our heroes.

With luck, and funding from an angel or two, we'll be able to continue our work
to foster critically important informed public discourse throughout America.



See our history on Google Video!

Cinema Classics on DVD
Curated Collection

"We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls."
-Roger Ebert

PLEASE NOTE: We are closing our doors on the last day of April 2007 and
we can
no longer accept orders for Cinema Classics DVDs.

Please see our "Going Out of Business" Sale of VHS tapes

Roger Ebert's Great Movie List
Read Roger Ebert's essays
Public, Academic and School Library Ordering information. Find out how to save 25% on future orders.
List of DVD titles by genre
List of DVD titles by country of origin
List of DVD titles by release date
Roger Ebert's Great Movies that are also on the Library of Congress FIlm List
Find related resources.
Suggestions from the Library Media Project for assembling a Cinema Classics Notebook

Cinema Classics on DVD was the newest collection of the Library Media Project. Our curator was the Pulitzer Prize winning film critic, Roger Ebert, and we presented selected films from his "The Great Movies" collection. As usual, we put together a discount program so public, academic and school libraries could obtain these films at significantly reduced rates.

Every month since September 1996, Roger has viewed or revisited some of the finest motion pictures of all time and selected one to add to his list of "Great Movies". Roger, who was a member of the Advisory Board of the Library Media Project, assembled an authoritative group of films that ought to be included in every library's collection. This is the best cinema classics core collection available.

Our Cinema Classics on DVD will help public and academic libraries build their burgeoning DVD collections with some of the best movies from the silent era, foreign films from France, Japan, Italy, Sweden, and Russia, as well as documentaries and of course, comedies. These are films of master storytellers, both in front of and behind the camera.

We invite you to read his two introductory essays (see Curator's Essays below) on the "Great Movies", then print them and add them to your Cinema Classics Notebook. This reference will become an invaluable educational tool for your patrons.

Just remember that copies for this notebook fall within copyright laws and may not be further republished without permission of the rights holders.

Just a small taste...

New! Please be our guest and take a moment to view a small selection of edited 60-second clips from these wonderful films.

Curator's Essays

"Introduction" essay written in September 1996.

"Great Movies" The First 100" essay written in May 2000.

Roger Ebert writes in his "Introduction" essay:

"In selecting the titles, I will try to find a balance between titles most people have heard of (``2001: A Space Odyssey'') and those few readers may be familiar with (Satyajit Ray's ``The Music Room''). One of the gifts one movie lover can give another is the title of a wonderful film they have not yet discovered. In university, I had a Shakespeare professor who was the world's leading expert in ``Romeo and Juliet,'' and who used to say he would give anything for the ability to read the play again for the first time."

"When I meet someone who has never seen ``The Third Man'' or ``Singin' in the Rain,'' I envy them the experience they are about to have."

Roger Ebert's Newest Selections
Date Selected - (n/a = not currently available on DVD)
For a Complete List of DVD titles
see the Great Movies List

3/12/06 Cat People
3/26/06 Night Moves
4/9/06 Ripley's Game
4/23/06 The Long Goodbye
5/7/06 Au Revoir, Les Enfants
5/21/06 Army of Shadows (Armée des l'ombres) n/a (Ebert Essay)
6/4/06 Chimes at Midnight n/a (Ebert Essay)
6/18/06 The Shining
7/2/06 Cabiria
  "Roger Ebert is in stable condition, recovering from emergency surgery. Chaz Ebert has issued a statement about Roger's condition here. For more information, please see the story in the Chicago Sun-Times." We extend our best wishes to Roger for a speedy recovery.

For a Complete List of DVD titles - see the Great Movies List

We, at the Library Media Project, believe this is the best core collection available in this diverse field. And yes, in some ways, we envy you and the people in your communities, as you and they, explore these remarkable views, visions and stories of the Cinema Classics on DVD.



  My items on eBay
As an occasional fundraising endeavor, we will be auctioning off interesting and unique items on eBay which have been donated to the Library Media Project. Drop in often to see what's available and happy bidding!


macarthur classics on DVD | cinema classics on DVD | visual arts videos
issues of aging videos | health videos | previous collections
to order a cinema classics DVD title | about us | contact us
| home

Copyright 1996, 2003, Library Media Project, Chicago, IL dvdclassics@librarymedia.org
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