:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/VTO357FFAZDVVAG3QFX6BCY4NQ.jpg)
norfolk — Someday soon, a section of Old Dominion University’s Perry Library will feel familiar to anyone who ever set foot in Naro Expanded Video.
Rows upon rows of films — in over 400 categories — will fill its floor space. A portrait of Mason, the former shop’s dog mascot of sorts, will hang on the wall along with portraits of the owners, Tim Cooper and Linda McGreevy. Movie posters will round out the space, advertising some of the world’s biggest motion pictures of yesteryear.
And all of it will sit beneath the glow of the very neon sign that, for decades, graced the beloved store’s front window on Colley Avenue in Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood.
After months of searching for the right home, Cooper and McGreevy announced this week that they had donated their collection of more than 43,000 DVDs, VHS tapes and films in other formats to the university.
The choice was simple, said McGreevy, who previously taught in the university’s art department for many years.
“They’re thinking along the same lines as we are. They’re going to treat (the collection) right and use it in a proper way,” she said.
What was most important to the couple was that its former faithful customers had access to the films — the same access they had for 23 years before the video store closed last fall.
Stuart Frazer, ODU’s interim university librarian, said the university jumped at the opportunity upon hearing the store was set to close last August. Inheriting thousands of films, including many that are not easily accessible or hold significant cultural importance, is a wonderful opportunity for not only the university but for film lovers everywhere, Frazer said.
“We were very excited about the prospect of possibly being able to acquire that collection because it’s a very deep collection of cinema. There’s a lot of unique and not-widely-held titles included,” he said.
Frazer said the university agreed to make the entire collection accessible to the public, whether they’re affiliated with the university or not. Details are being worked out, but the operating model will likely resemble that of a membership program.
Making the space feel like home to those who frequented the Colley Avenue shop is important, too. Creating the right atmosphere and cataloging the collection will take time, though.
In addition to the films, Cooper and McGreevy donated tons of memorabilia that once adorned the shop’s walls and shelves. For Frazer, it’s paramount that the university “gets it right” when putting it all together.
“We want to develop something that will echo what people liked so much about the Naro,” he said. “Each item had to be touched and worked on and we’ll have to create a compute record and metadata formats, descriptive information about each title.”
Because renovations might be needed to create a dedicated space inside the library, Frazer said it could be up to 18 months before titles can be checked out.
For any films that are considered rare or hard to find, Frazer said access will likely be the same as the more easily accessible titles, because the library has the ability to create a preservation copy.
“That’s a copy which is made with the intent to make sure you have a preserved digital copy in perpetuity. If we’ve got that preservation copy, we can be more flexible with those unique items,” he said.
McGreevy even asked the university to address a much-complained-about issue once the collection is made available to the public.
Weekend Scoop
“Parking,” McGreevy said. “We talked to them particularly about parking, and they assured me they would do something.”
Frazer said they’ll work on the university’s transportation and parking services to come up with a solution to make it “as easy as we can” for community members wishing to peruse the collection.
Expect to see some events and programming centered around the substantial library of films once the space is complete. Frazer said university staff is already discussing the potential to hold film conferences and festivals and using the collection as a springboard for programming.
“It’s a good fit with some of the directions in the arts that the university is moving,” he said.
Parting with the very items that consumed their lives for so long was difficult for Cooper and McGreevy, but the Norfolk residents are happy that their films found a home near to those who cared so much for it.
“We had people start friendships there, use it as a meeting place for years and at least two marriages inside the store. We saved the collection for the community who loved us so much,” she said. “We’re still a Norfolk institution and that’s what we intend to be.”
Amy Poulter, 757-446-2705, amy.poulter@pilotonline.com