The Audiovisual Collection is sponsored by the UW System Women' Studies Consortium and is housed at the Elton Karrmann Library, UW-Platteville. Borrowing from the Collection is restricted to residents of Wisconsin. Material circulates free of charge through interlibrary loan.
The Collection was established in 1989 to support undergraduate teaching committed to the inclusion of the study of women in all aspects of the curriculum and in other university activities. Acquisitions to the collection emphasize films and videos (documentary, narrative, experimental) which are not otherwise readily available and which are written, produced, and/or directed by women, or based on works or contributions by women.
The UW System Women' Studies Librarian updates and distributes the collection catalog and co-chairs the advisory committee overseeing the collection.
The UW System Women' Studies Librarian also maintains the Women' Audio Visuals In English (WAVE) Database. Please see the about section for more information.
For further information about the Collection, consult the Women' Studies AV Collection Catalog or contact the UW System Women' Studies Librarian, 430 Memorial Library, 728 State Street, Madison, WI 53706; (608) 263-5754; email: wiswsl@library.wisc.edu.
Films and videos are available free of charge through interlibrary loan. If you wish to borrow an item, please submit your request through the interlibrary loan service of your home campus library. You may call ahead to check availability (608) 342-1648, but a reservation will not be in effect until the formal Inter-Library Loan request is received by the Karrmann Library. Complete instructions for reserving films and videotapes appear below.
[Reminder: borrowing of material from this Collection is restricted to residents of Wisconsin and students of the University of Wisconsin System.]
To reserve a film or video for a specific date, you must specify the date on which you plan to show it. Indicate an acceptable alternate date as well. Please ask the ILL staff to highlight the date, since there is no designated place on the standard form for this information. If the film or video will be available on the date requested, the UW-Platteville ILL office will send written confirmation to the requesting library. Likewise, if the item is already booked and thus will not be available on that date, the requesting library will be notified. (Please note that the UW- Platteville ILL office will communicate with the requesting library, not directly with the individual requestor. This is in keeping with established ILL procedures.)
To assure that the reservation system works smoothly for all, please submit requests as far in advance as possible. Ideally, films and videos for classroom use should be reserved before the start of the semester. There is no guarantee that last-minute requests can be honored. Problems will arise if materials are not returned promptly, so please return all films and videos on or before the due date. Renewals are not permitted.
Material from the collection may be requested on either the ALA form or by OCLC/ILLIAD on-line request (preferred by the Karrmann Library).
Films and videos are shipped via the "Red" box delivery system when available. If the requesting library is not a "Red" box recipient, please give a full street address when requesting a film or video, this way the item can be shipped via UPS (preferred shipping if not a "Red" box recipient.
The UW System Women' Studies Audiovisual Collection was launched in 1989, building on an earlier grant to UW-Platteville from the UW System Undergraduate Teaching Improvement Council for the purchase of films by women directors. Since then, additional materials have been acquired with funds from the Women of Color in the Curriculum project (sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Undergraduate Teaching Improvement Council) and the UW-Madison Women' Studies Research Center.
Although the UW System Women' Studies Audiovisual Collection has no budget for acquiring new materials, opportunities to add films and videos do arise. You may suggest titles and sources to Phyllis Holman Weisbard, UW System Women' Studies Librarian, 430 Memorial Library, 728 State Street, Madison, WI 53706, (608) 263-5754; email: wiswsl@library.wisc.edu, or the current Director of UWP' Women' Studies Program. Contact the Women' Studies office at (608) 342-15500;. We encourage you to build funds for acquiring audiovisual media into grants and project budgets and to deposit relevant items in the collection.
Please feel free to photocopy this catalog for distribution within the UW System. Additional copies may also be obtained from the Women' Studies Librarian, 430 Memorial Library, State St., Madison, WI 53706, (608) 263-5754.
Descriptions of over 3,000 films and videos may be found in the WAVE: Women' Audio-Visuals in English: A Guide to Nonprint Resources in Women' Studies database, maintained by the University of Wisconsin System Women' Studies Librarian, 430 Memorial Library, 728 State Street, Madison, WI 53706.
Articles discussing films in the collection have appeared frequently in Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women' Studies Resources, under the heading "Feminist Visions." A print packet of the reviews is available upon request from the University of Wisconsin System Women' Studies Librarian' Office.
The following books contain material on women' films and filmmakers and feminist film theory:
Brunsdon, Charlotte, ed. Films For Women. London: British Film Institute, 1986.
Carson, Diane, Linda Dittmar and Janice R. Welsch, eds. Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994.
Cook, Pam and Philip Dodd, eds. Women and Film: A Sight and Sound Reader. London: Scarlet Press, 1993.
Cristall, Ferne and Barbara Emanuel. Images in Action: A Guide to Using Women' Film and Video. Toronto: Between the Lines, 1986.
Doane, Mary Ann, Patricia Mellencamp and Linda Williams, ed. Re-vision: Essays in Feminist Film Criticism. Los Angeles: The American Film Institute, 1984.
Erens, Patricia, ed. Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Erens, Patricia, ed. Sexual Stratagems: The World of Women in Film. New York: Horizon Press, 1979.
Fischer, Lucy. Shot/Countershot: A Film Tradition and Women' Cinema. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. Women Film Directors; An International Bio-Critical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995.
Gentile, Mary C. Film Feminisms: Theory and Practice. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985.
Heck-Rabi, Louise. Women Filmmakers: A Critical Reception. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1984.
Jayamanne, Laleen. Liss Me Deadly: Feminism & Cinema For the Moment. Sydney: Power Publications, 1995.
Kaplan, E. Ann. Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera. New York.: Methuen, 1983.
Kuhn, Annette. Women' Pictures: Feminism and Cinema. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982.
Kuhn, Annette, ed. Women in Film: An International Guide. New York: Fawcett, 1990.
de Lauretis, Teresa. Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984.
Mellencamp, Patricia. A Fine Romance: Five Ages of Film Feminism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.
Miller, Lynn F. The Hand That Holds the Camera: Interviews With Women Film and Video Directors. New York: Garland, 1988.
Pietropaolo, Laura and Ada Testaferri, eds. Feminisms in the Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Quart, Barbara. Women Directors: The Emergence of a New Cinema. New York: Praeger, 1988.
Slide, Anthony. The Silent Feminists: America' First Women Directors. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996.