In the fall semester, students in Professor Matt Ryan’s PLSCS 1900 class "Sustainable Agriculture" are asked to create a short film conveying a particular aspect of sustainable agriculture. Staff from Mann Library—including Food and Agricultural Librarian Ashley Downs and Instructional Technology Coordinator Matt Ryan (no relation to Prof. Ryan)--work with the class to teach traditional research search strategies, videography skills (including storyboard planning, film capture techniques and the use of editing software), and basic copyright rules and fair use considerations.

More than fifty films are submitted annually by students and judged by their classmates on creativity, quality of videography and clarity of message. Students present their films to the class during a “film festival” held in Mann Library’s conference rooms while staff from Mann serve popcorn. The top-ranked films are displayed at a special exhibit on the first floor of Mann Library during the two-week December exam period and are deposited in eCommons for the benefit of the Cornell community.