Colleague Collections: You can’t spell David without DVD

Barbara Magill

If you take the vowels out of David Shugert’s first name, it spells DVD. How appropriate, considering David’s passion is collecting them David didn’t start out as a collector It grew on him. Originally, he just wanted to watch shows and movies. He even re-sold some before he realized he wanted to keep a collection. Now it’s more about the collecting and has become something of an addiction. David has nearly 6,000 DVDs.

His collection spans from the 1950s with such titles as Cheyenne, Sea Hunt and Wanted Dead or Alive to current live-action series like Cobra Kai. He also has ’60s shows like Wild Wild West, Get Smart and The Andy Griffith Show. David’s ’70s section includes TV shows such as S W A T , Man from Atlantis and Barney Miller The ’80s have too many to mention!

David’s DVD selection consists of more TV shows than movies. If you ask him a show title, he can tell you which seasons he has I threw one out there What about Little House on the Prairie, a favorite of mine growing up. He has all but seasons eight and nine.

David’s collection is unique in that many shows he recorded himself on VHS! In the late ’90s, when he discovered DVD burners and DVR, he transferred his VHS recordings to discs. His twin sister is a big fan of Cagney and Lacey, so David recorded all the shows on VHS for her and later transferred them to DVD. In 2003 he started recording directly from DVR to DVD. If he finds an inexpensive used version of a show that he has recorded, he will replace his recording with that one. Or he will buy seasons that are missing to supplement his collection. Like when he found the 12th season for Bones, of which he had already recorded 11 seasons

All this love of media brought David to work at Boulder’s now-defunct Video Station for 20 years. David sometimes wakes up from a dream in which he still works at Video Station, wishing it still existed In the late ’90s, he witnessed the transition from VHS to DVDs and remembers that Pride and Prejudice (2005) was the last VHS that Video Station received, and on March 6, 2017, David saw the end of an era when Video Station closed its doors after 35 years

Luckily for us, David found his way to the library, where has been a much-loved materials handler extraordinaire for five years and, more recently, a library specialist substitute as well He admits to missing Video Station, but he recognizes that he loves helping library patrons with DVD selections. Meadows library has an ASK DAVID sign posted in the DVD area

“Epguides.com is incredibly useful to me,” David says. He uses it to look up all kinds of TV episode information It contains a listing of nearly every show ever made, with seasons and links, and supplements his TV show directory, which is helpful up to 1994, but is currently outdated.

David was born to be a media connoisseur. As a child, he used a portable tape recorder to create audio adventures using clips from different shows Pressing record, pressing play, rewinding, tweaking his stories with bits and pieces from other taped shows. He would yell at his sisters to “shut up! I’m recording!” and then he would aim his microphone at the TV.

In fact, David is somewhat of a celebrity among library patrons who were loyal Video Station customers. He is still recognized at the library from his time there (It’s almost like he is a DVD rock star!) And if anyone wants a DVD recommendation, David’s eyes light up when he talks about certain movies or TV series.

I asked David how he retains so much knowledge of the many shows he collects and watches. He will rattle off details about nearly any movie you could mention. His secret is simply following his passion On his bedside table sits the Leonard Maltin movie guide, where he will browse for the pleasure of it, not necessarily agreeing with all the reviews, but finding it a great referral manual. He will also read about movie or show on Wikipedia

David grew up watching “anything with a cool vehicle,” like Knight Rider, Street Hawk and Airwolf (a super helicopter). Of course, he loved Back to the Future featuring the Delorean, which he still owns as a model car As a kid, David was obsessed with Starblazers, an Americanized futuristic anime series. “I know you can watch it on YouTube, but I want to own it,” he says "You never know when something won’t be available anymore ”

The Stargate SG-1 complete series box stands out from the rest of David's collection for its memorable packaging.

David enjoys organizing his collection. His current system is to take a new TV series purchase home and watch a few episodes, sleeve the discs, scan the inserts, and enter it into his Google Docs database He learned his cataloguing system from working at Video station. He records the title, season, number of discs and whether it was on a network or aired on a streaming service For instance, Wings 1 1 would be season 1, disc 1

Co-worker and figure-collector enthusiast Sean Crow turned David on to the CLZ movies app, which allows him to scan the barcode on the back of a box and get the IMDB review, the cover art and the number of discs in a set. It is also a portable way to keep track of his collection so he can see what he needs when out searching for a deal

He sometimes finds a good deal at 2nd & Charles, where you can buy, sell, roam or treasure hunt for used media, books and other items And it’s the hunt that David enjoys or rather finding that little treasure Like when he found the first season of Chucky for $5, or when he found Evil Dead 2 for $1.50. “It was so awesome,” he says. David especially likes to visit on the “buy 5, get 5 free” days, because part of the fun is finding a good deal. He is at 2nd & Charles so often, the employees joke that David basically works there. He can’t help but straighten out collections and put them in order as well as help people out

Anywhere David goes, he’s on the lookout for a good, used-DVD deal. He says the ARC Thrift Store offers a more satisfying experience because you can find better bargains. He once found the entire Stargate SG1 series in a large collectible box. Completing a series is satisfying, and it’s cool to find Blu-rays, which are scratch resistant Finding and owning them gives him pleasure, but he also loves a good deal.

David’s favorite movies of all time are Stand By Me and Back to the Future. His favorite TV series is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spenser: For Hire is a close second “Anything syndicated” is most entertaining for him. Sci-fi, action and fantasy are David’s choice genres. One series he watches consistently is Poltergeist, the Legacy, which has four seasons Starman starring Robert Hays holds the most sentimental value for David, as he was roughly the same age as the main character’s son at the time it came out. He even mailed a letter asking ABC not to end the show in 1987

David doesn’t know what will happen to his DVD collection. “When I die, who’s going to take them?” His thought echoes what Bruce Shamma, former owner of Video Station, said of his inventory: as for its long-term fate, he said, "I don't know. It will be there moldering when I'm 6 feet under. Or it will be on my epitaph. Or who knows?" What David does know is that with “all the shows I have, I doubt I could watch them all in what’s left of my lifetime.” And with his collector’s mindset, he will continue to enjoy his passion and the thrill of the deal

David's Favorite DVDs

Calling

YOU CAN BE IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER!

Did you know that Leonard DiCaprio also maintains a large collection of action and collectible figures like Sean Crow? I am looking to do more profiles on library employees who collect things Someone may have an obvious collection, like Elton John, who collects multicolored sunglasses. Or an unusual collection, like Nicole Kidman’s ancient Judean coins.

Even if you are just starting out and have a small collection, I would like to hear from you!

Please contact me, Barbara, at magillb@colorado gov so I can ask you about your collection!