The Collection
The Sights & Sounds Department maintains a collection of audio-visual materials reflecting the general scope of most Pratt subject areas, including:
- over 18,000 DVDs and videos (including titles with "descriptive video" narration for the visually impaired), which are divided into two separate collections:
- The Rental DVD/Video Collection consists of over 4,000 popular home entertainment titles, which are organized by genre
- The Free DVD/Video Collection consists of over 14,000 titles. Mostly educational, they also include popular television series, Japanese anime series, musical performances, and foreign films (including hundreds of Criterion Collection DVDs)
- more than 2,100 16mm film titles, including many hard-to-find titles not available in other media formats
- almost 2,000 phonograph records, with a concentration in classical, world/folk, jazz and spoken word
- over 5,500 music CDs of popular, jazz, world/folk, gospel, country and local music
- nearly 4,500 fiction audiobooks-on-CD, with concentrations in Classics, Mysteries, Young Adult and African-American literature
- more than 3,000 fiction audiobooks-on-tape
State Library Resources
SAS's resources provide access to information not located in standard book sources.
- See African-American History resources on DVD/video
- Locate Women's Issues on DVD/video
- Find Educational Teaching Aids on DVD/video reflecting every department's subject area
- Use our Mystery Audiobook Series guide to search for audiobooks by genre or detective name
- Search for Maryland Archive Footage in our collection indexed by time period and subject
- Watch critically-acclaimed "must-see" documentaries, including our award-winning Frederick Wiseman collection
- Use our guide to popular movies and TV shows, documentaries, and "public domain" films you can watch online for free
- Discover rare and obscure video series (most not available on DVD) covering a variety of interesting subjects
- View a wide range of 16mm film titles reflecting collection strengths in Baltimore Film Festival entries, experimental and avant-garde shorts, classic movie serials, and classic feature films with public performance rights
- Select from a variety of documentary films and public broadcast television series like Frontline and American Experience
- Use our Viewers' Advisory Resources guide to determine what to watch next and where to watch it
- Follow "how-to" instructional DVDs to master handicrafts and home repairs, learn new computer skills, write better resumes, learn a new language, learn to play a musical instrument, or study for educational/vocational tests
- Check out our Local Music CD collection, which highlights regional indie rock and hip-hop artists
