In July the Trinity Library switched from an instant access model to a mediated access model for the Kanopy Film Streaming Library.  While the immediate access to films in Kanopy was very appealing, rapid increases in use and associated costs made the service financially unsustainable for the library. Trinity is not alone in this: other institutions who are going to a mediated or very restricted access include Stanford, the University of Michigan and many others.

Kanopy’s pay-when-viewed model charges the library an annual licensing fee when a certain percentage of the film has been viewed or the film has been viewed three times.  The mediated access model gives viewers the option to request access to films that that library has not purchased a streaming license for in the last twelve months.  These requests are sent to the librarians for evaluation, who will look for the most cost-effective way to provide the film.  In most cases when a request is made during normal business hours it will be processed within 24 hours.

Because of costs the library will only authorize use of Kanopy films for academic use.  For any other film requests we will do our best to direct the interested user to an alternate viewing method.  We encourage you to browse the media collections of the Trinity, Wesleyan, and Connecticut College libraries.

What does this mean for you?

  • Faculty must contact the library ahead of time if they wish to screen a film in class or assign a film for class viewing. We’ll try activate titles quickly, but we’ll need a minimum one business day lead time.
  • For any film content, please just tell us the title and version, director, etc. of the film. We’ll figure out the best platform to deliver the content in a way that minimizes costs.
  • Once a film is licensed through Kanopy it will be discoverable in OneSearch. Search for the title and follow the links in the record to view the streaming content.

If you have any questions about these changes please contact Kim Rinaldo (kimberly.rinaldo@trincoll.edu) or Katie Bauer (kathleen.bauer@trincoll.edu)