Berkley Public Library revives video rental store nostalgia with BerkBuster

Remember the ‘good ole’ days when every Friday night, you’d stand in line at your favorite video rental store to borrow the latest VHS or DVD? That is, if you were lucky, and it still happened to be in stock.

At Berkley Public Library, physical media librarian Lisabeth Posthuma is responsible for developing collections on adult television and film DVD and Blu-Ray, youth film and television DVD and Blu-Ray, all-ages music CD and Vinyl, and all-ages books on CD. She also helped manage one of the library’s latest projects, the creation of BerkBuster.

BerkBuster is an ode to the glory days of Blockbuster, the iconic video rental store, which began in 1985. Posthuma says this new area of the library helps fulfill the organization’s mission to serve every patron by meeting their request for information – whether for educational or entertainment purposes. 

“When I was in high school, I worked at a video store,” Posthuma says. “I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between that job and working at the library — especially because we had such a great collection of film/television in circulation. One day I was gazing up on our media collection space and thought that with some sprucing up, it would be easy to transform it into a video store atmosphere.”

After a proposal to the Friends of Berkley Library to request funding was passed unanimously, she spent the next few months making the vision come to life. Posthuma put out a community survey asking patrons about their physical media preferences, preferred titles, and their relationship with former neighborhood video stores. 

“I used the information gathered to inform the creation of two new curated collections,” she says. “To stretch my budget, I shopped regularly at thrift and media resale stores to build up these new collections and additionally to grow our existing collection of materials.”

She also used branding and merchandising experience to reset the existing collections to a more store-like atmosphere. After more signage, branding, painting, and planning, on November 14, 2025, over 200 people attended a community launch event to celebrate the opening of BerkBuster. 

“We curated television comedies and dramas from 1950-forward for our Friday Night collection, and a selection of nostalgic children’s film/television from the same era make up our Saturday Morning collection. We hope that these materials create opportunities for patrons from different generations to share their favorite movies and television programs with one another,” Posthuma says. 

Inflation has impacted nearly every industry, surprisingly, even streaming services. Part of BerkBuster’s mission is to highlight the many film/television collections that are available to patrons completely free. 

“We also wanted to show our residents who may not see themselves as readers that the library is for them, too,” Posthuma says. “We have such a supportive Friends of the Berkley Library branch who have been eager to help us with projects that will appeal to our community at-large, so this was the perfect intersection of everyone’s goals.”

There are no rental fees, late fees, or rewind fees at BerkBuster. Anyone with a library card can borrow materials for free. 

“Berkley residents will need proof of address to obtain a library card,” Posthuma says, “Other communities may have different requirements, but once someone in our consortium has acquired a library card, they can use it at our library. We have a partnership with over 40 local libraries in Oakland County who can use our library and check materials out with their home library card. Beyond that, much of the rest of the state of Michigan has access to our catalog through the MelCat system.”

Visitors can also find inside the space a gumball machine that doesn’t dispense gumballs, but movie recommendations, and a scratch-and-sniff sticker with a free token from the librarians. There is also a magnet board where the library leaves a prompt for folks to answer using only the magnetic words available.

Since opening, the community response has been positive, with many patrons returning each week to borrow more materials, says Posthuma. 

“I recently compared our physical media film/television circulation numbers from December 2024 to December 2025 (the first full month that BerkBuster was open), and I was thrilled to learn that circulation was up a whopping 40%,” she says. 

While materials constantly enter and exit streaming services, some movies and shows are harder to find, but thanks to the MeLCat and interlibrary loan, even the most nostalgic titles can be borrowed from BerkBuster — and for free. 

It’s that nostalgic feeling for many folks that is driving a return to physical media in an ever-changing digital world. 

Metro Detroit resident Christopher Burlew loves that local libraries are trying different ways to keep the love of physical media alive. 

“Physical media is dying in the digital age, but the library is an important firewall to its survival,” he says. “I got sick of renting the music I love from streaming services years ago, and one of the biggest reasons for me to preserve the music I love was using my local library and our state’s MeLCat database to go back to an iPod and have an algorithmic-free music experience. I was able to get many albums I loved as a kid back in my rotation that aren’t on streaming, as well.”

“There’s an increasing trend, even among the generations that post-date physical media, to own CDs, DVDs, and even VHS tapes, to decorate their spaces with them as identity markers,” Posthuma says. “It’s a way of connecting with art and artists that you don’t get by clicking on a link.”

Being able to touch and hold the media also adds a different layer, inviting the listener/watcher into the interactive experience more. Borrowing these tangible materials from a library versus buying them is a much more environmentally friendly experience in a world full of overconsumption and waste. 

“I like to encourage our patrons to think of BerkBuster like their own closet full of all their favorite movies and shows that we at the library organize for them,” Posthuma says. “Of course, because our patrons are such generous people, they share their collection with the rest of the community. This not only keeps everyone from having to own each individual DVD/Blu-Ray, it keeps the clutter out of their own homes as well.”