Beginning to Assess College Student’s Attitudes Towards Streaming and Physical Mediums
Librarians often wonder how their material is relevant and used. Many of us are hopeful that the content we provide is informative, relevant, educational, and possibly entertaining. With this in mind, keeping statistics and understanding usage of resources is important for any library to justify retaining content. In an effort to find out how students are aware of content at my own university, I created a simple survey for library student workers, as they were the easiest sample to obtain. A few simple questions, assembled with the help of Google Forms, allowed me to send out a straw poll to gather some data on how students use resources. I’ve used this technique with success before to gather quick information about library website access and findability. The subjects were all library student assistants, so the sample was small - only 11 students. In the past, I’ve found that working in the library as a student does not equate to knowing everything about the library, so these students were fair game for the following questions:
Did you know the library has streaming video content within our databases?
Have you ever accessed streaming content (video) from our library catalog?
What kind of streaming content should a library provide to patrons?
Has a professor in any of your classes used any of the following? Choose more than one if applicable. (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, Other or None)
When was the last time you watched a DVD or Blu-ray movie (physical disc)?
Have you ever checked out physical media from this library?
The responses were enlightening and informative to library staff. I discussed the results with colleagues and it was surprising to them as well. Some takeaways from the polling included that streaming video integrated into the catalog doesn’t make a difference in accessibility. The outdated notion that a catalog is just for physical items is still pervasive.
Students did not realize that the catalog was a finding aid to streaming content. In fact, most were not aware of streaming content being provided by the library. We have two ways that it can be accessed – via our catalog and directly through the streaming databases we have. Most have not or didn’t know if they had viewed streaming content provided by the library. Every library loves to see their content utilized and every librarian loves to hear about that content being utilized responsibly. Responsibility in this context is abiding by copyright laws and engaging with librarians about material that aids instruction.
This quick survey could easily be adapted to a larger and more robust tool for my library to get a feel of how students or faculty are aware of what streaming content the library offers. Anecdotally, the idea that a library as a repository for books is still a pervasive attitude many patrons have as they do not realize the availability of streaming services via databases. Further questions could be asked to get insight into students and how they are accessing streaming content. The study from 2016, mentioned above, shows that libraries saw the struggle of convenience of access when streaming was just beginning to take hold. It’s clear that our streaming services are not visible and that students assume we do not have significant streaming content. It is not a traditional library service when compared to loaning physical items.
Morris and Currie (2016) at the University of Kansas conducted a survey of over 200 students and what streaming service they subscribed to. Although a bit dated, this survey marked the beginning of how librarians started to take streaming media seriously and think about content providers for this emerging medium. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime were just getting started and have since become ubiquitous in patron’s homes. You can surmise that once these services became popular and mobile via devices, professors saw content that would benefit classroom instruction and began using personal accounts. The Morris and Currie survey found that 51% of the students polled would rather pay for access to a film than come to the library. The convenience of access prevails! Now that streaming services are part of most library holdings, making these services known should be something that librarians focus on.
…[I]t should be an easy sell to get users excited about content that is incredibly easy to access….
The ease of access to streaming media is a plus for advertising library services. It aligns with already existing services that students and faculty are used to. Hypothetically, it should be an easy sell to get users excited about content that is incredibly easy to access (as well as free) - content that is not only educational, but can also be entertaining. The survey asked what content should the library provide streaming access to, with the majority stating documentaries. Some respondents also stated popular movies and TV shows and one person stated that the physical content we carry should have a streaming counterpart.
We have (what I consider) a well-rounded collection of over 5,000 physical media holdings and our stats show a yearly decline in physical checkouts, but a range of 6-10% of our collection is checked out each year. Some fluctuation depends on what professors are using in their classroom. It also seems that many professors fail to utilize library streaming content and will resort to using their own private streaming subscriptions for classroom viewing. It doesn’t matter if it is Hulu, Disney+ or Netflix, nothing is off limits. This is problematic. Classroom viewing of private home subscriptions are technically not allowed and violate user agreements. Students are probably unaware of this situation and assume this practice is okay since they are in a learning environment. Grove (2021) wrote an excellent article detailing what a post-Covid streaming environment for academia looks like. By outlining the challenges of streaming versus DVD content used by the online classroom instructor, considerations such as copyright legality and recorded classroom sessions where videos are viewed, moved into the consciousness of librarians. Proactive faculty consulting with a librarian when putting together a syllabus can avoid many pitfalls of navigating streaming content. I have heard from several faculty members that it is assumed if we have a physical copy, there is a corresponding streaming copy floating around that the library has access to. If only that were true!
As a librarian, I don’t see much of what goes on in the classroom. Faculty seem to go for what is easiest to show, often using their own personal subscriptions to access content, rather than engage with librarians on helping them meet their pedagogical needs. Speaking with librarians at other academic libraries, we seem to be practically begging for faculty input on library purchases. Getting the word out about streaming content databases to faculty and students is crucial. The method to do that though, has no clear cut path.
Works Cited
Grove, T. M. (2021). Academic Library Video Services: Charting a Post-COVID Course. Pennsylvania Libraries, 9(2), 101-110. https://doi.org/10.5195/palrap.2021.262
Morris, S. E. & Currie, L. H. (2016). To stream or not to stream? New Library World, 117(7/8), 485-498. https://doi.org/10.1108/NLW-03-2026-0021
