The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

February, 1936 Page 41 Table II shows, by months, the distribution of 16-mm. films, 3S-mm. films, and of sets of glass slides for the entire period the Visual Aids Service has been functioning. It should be noted that the distribution of 35-mm. films has decreased, while the distribution of 16-mm. films has increased tre- mendously. On the basis of the distribution of 16-mm. films for the months of September and Oc- tober of the present year and of the bookings al- ready made for future delivery, it is predicted that as many as 6,000 reels of 16-mm. films will be dis- tributed during the current school year. In conclusion it seems appropriate to attempt an answer to the question that is likely to come to the reader's mind: Why ask the various schools to de- posit films when it would involve less administra- tive routine to assess them $17^ for the same annual service they receive as members of the 16-mm. sil- ent-film library? ^The yearly cost to a cooperating school is $17 plus transpor- tation costs. The deposited film costs $24 (if a film costing less is deposited, the difiference must be made up in cash) and the two service fees for the two-year period amount to $10. Thus the cost for the two years' service is $34, or an average yearly cost of $17. When the Visual Aids Service was inaugurated, there were no appropriated funds with which to buy films. It was not possible to develop a library of sufficient worth to justify the payment by school administrators of a sufficiently high annual fee to enable the Service to purchase films. In other words, the cooperative plan was necessary to es- tablish the library in the beginning. It is true that the library now contains sufficient material to allow the cooperative idea to expire, but the cooperative idea seems to have certain psychological advantages over the flat rental plan. The idea of buying only one film and of being therefore privileged to use many, is one that school- board members can readily understand. When, furthermore, a school administrator opens the cata- log of films and finds the names of neighboring schools listed as cooperating members, he wants to see his own school included. Each cooperating school, finally, knows that it has a part interest in the central library, a feeling that would not exist if the school secured the service by paying a stip- ulated yearly fee. Editorial {Continued from page 35) ministrative policies, problems of organization, and covers radio, phonograph, and sound-system installa- tions as well. Complete answers to this great question- naire, when analyzed, tabulated, and made available in printed form from the Office of Education, will be an invaluable asset in the future development of visual instruction. No superintendent should fail to supply his quota of information to these national statistics. The Questionnaire from the Department of Visual Instruction of the N. E. A. The D.V.I, questionnaire is likewise national in scope, but diiTers markedly from the Washington docu- ment in several respects. It goes to individual schools, to Principals instead of Superintendents; it is limited solely to present visual equipment and its use, is con- tained complete on one side of a standard postcard, and can be filled out in five minutes or less. Return of the card also entitles the Principal to a reduced rate for membership in the Department. The D.V.I, questionnaire began mailing on January 11th. Unlike the Washington mailing, this will be gradual and will extend over a considerable period. First returns have shown not only the data asked in careful detail, but a gratifyingly large percentage of Principals taking membership in the Department and in the N.E.A. Inasmuch as one important purpose of the efTort was to gain memberships for the Department, this questionnaire seems to open up interesting pos- sibilities for real growth and correspondingly greater service by the Department to the field. The two questionnaires, going to different individ- uals, should serve to check and complement each other. Superintendents and Principals, being normally en- dowed with that well-known attribute called "human nature", may be as prone to neglect as to fulfill. Gaps in the returns of either will often be filled by returns from the other. Further, names of Directors of Visual Instruction and "Parties most interested", received on both questionnaires, may be combined to issue a new and enlarged "Visual Instruction Directory" for the entire country. Nelson L. Greene