Meeting the Demand for Streaming Media in the Classroom While Supporting Filmmakers
An interview Elsa Loftis, Pamela Yates, and Brian Edwards
Elsa Loftis joined the Portland State University library faculty in 2018 as the Humanities and Acquisitions Librarian. She is the subject liaison to the College of Art + Design, Film Studies, and the World Languages and Literature departments. She fields copyright questions for the library, and coordinates all streaming video content. Prior to her arrival at PSU, she was the Director of Library Services for the Oregon College of Art and Craft, worked as the librarian for Everest College, held positions at the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Pratt Institute Library. She received her MLIS from the Pratt Institute, and her BA in International Studies at the University of Oregon.
Pamela Yates is a documentary filmmaker whose work has focused on war crimes, racism, and genocide in the US and Latin America. Her films include the Sundance Special Jury award winning When the Mountains Tremble, State of Fear: The Truth About Terrorism, and Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, which was used as key forensic evidence in the genocide trial against Efraín Ríos Montt in Guatemala. She is also Executive Producer of the Academy Award winning Witness to War. Her most recent film, 500 YEARS: Life in Resistance premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is now in wide release.
Pamela is also the Co-founder and Creative Director of Skylight, a non-profit company dedicated to creating feature length documentary films and digital media tools that advance awareness of human rights and the quest for justice by implementing multi-year outreach campaigns designed to engage, educate and activate social change.
Brian Edwards is the Director of Education Streaming at Swank Motion Pictures where he has spent the last 6 years working with colleges and universities facilitating streaming access to film as an evolving pedagogy and developing new ways to support the acquisition and availability of streaming media.
Introduction
There’s no doubt that the demand for streaming media in libraries and classrooms has increased over the last decade, and perhaps even more so over the last two years while many of our campuses and library facilities were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A recent Choice white paper shared the results of a survey on streaming media services in academic libraries, and not surprisingly, revealed that 97% of respondents offer some form of streaming media through their libraries. The same white paper also notes past surveys, which show adoption of streaming services in academic libraries at 33% in 2010, 70% in 2013, and up to 84.5% in 2015. It’s a steady and dramatic increase.
This increase means that libraries are adding more and more media to their collections, while aggregators and streaming platforms geared towards libraries are becoming more popular. Subscription services such as Alexander Street’s Academic Video Online and streaming media providers such as Kanopy and Swank are becoming more popular as libraries seek to meet the demand for media. This increase in adoption and demand is in part driven by a rise in the use of streaming media to support teaching, whether it is for studying methodology in a film class for providing context and insight on an important topic. Rather than a substitute for a lecture or a time-filler, films can be the centerpiece of a class discussion, assignment, or unit.
So, what does all this mean for libraries, for filmmakers, for distributors and platform providers? At the very least, it means that all three are navigating an increasingly complex marketplace, with different modes of acquisition, distribution, and licensing. How can the three groups work together, and what can we learn from each other? For this edition of Building Bridges, I asked a librarian, a filmmaker, and a streaming media provider their thoughts on the use of film in higher education and how libraries can meet the needs of instructors and students.
Interview
What trends have you noticed around the use of films in higher education?
EL: Demand for streaming films continues to grow, and this was observable well before the COVID pandemic. Certainly the rapid and complete shift to remote learning during the pandemic increased the use of films in streaming format and shifted the way students viewed films in their courses. If we could provide streaming access to films, students could be assigned viewing outside of the classroom on a broader scale. Again, this was already a trend for some time, it’s an example of what is called a “flipped classroom” model, where the students encounter material before their class time–in this case, watching a film about a subject prior to analysis and discussion in their actual class period as opposed to synchronous group viewing. The streaming format supports this to a far greater extent than physical DVDs, VHS tapes or film reels because there is no limit to simultaneous viewing by individuals on their own time.
Trends besides the flipped model might include the upward trend of budget allocation from our acquisitions funds, and more staff time managing the back end of the records.
In terms of film content, our most popular films are documentaries about important social issues by far. I believe that this is in part due to assigned viewing in courses, but also personal interest on the part of our student body.
PY: Filmic storytelling is the medium of our time. We’ve seen a huge increase in the use of films in the classroom over the past 20 years, because people are so much more conversant in audio visual language and its power. Based on the numbers of our films being rented and purchased for collections and on anecdotal reports that we get from professors that contact us, the streaming technology allows us to reach many more media librarians and professors in the areas of human and environmental rights, global relations, international justice, and Latin American studies. And for young people in high school and college now, the ease of streaming on demand is crucial. Based on the increased popularity of the films in rentals and sales, we also are asked to present our Skylight Masterclass either in person or virtually, so a virtuous cycle is created between the films’ content, how we made them, and our intentions. We created an academic screening package for libraries who have acquired our films.
BE: The pandemic certainly expedited the use of digital resources. I had one educator tell me that the pandemic was a digital librarian’s moment as it forced those instructors still using traditional/physical resources to evolve rapidly. I don’t believe that the pandemic expanded the use of film in education but certainly broadened the recognition of value that streaming brings to the learning process over and above physical media.
Acquisition models have also seen a shift from the pandemic. Demand driven acquisition provides so much flexibility to schools but with ongoing budget concerns combined with staffing challenges in libraries, we have started to see a trend back in the direction of collection based acquisition for a lot of schools over the last 12 months.
How important is it for libraries to provide films and streaming media in their collections?
EL: It is essential for libraries to provide resources for teaching, learning, and research–and yes, entertainment. It is important to meet demand and support the curriculum of our various departments. But I believe that is more of a content consideration rather than mode of delivery. However, more and more–this is an issue of access as opposed to convenience. If a film is assigned viewing for a course, the library might offer it in DVD format, but this could create significant hardship for viewing because of the format. It is becoming rather uncommon for laptops or desktop computers to feature a disc drive, and this is anecdotal–but many students who contact me do not own DVD players, and the idea of coming to the library to view a DVD onsight at one of our stations is not easily done, especially for distance learners who may rarely come to campus. So we of course want to meet students where they are and support their learning in the best way possible. Part of that is providing streaming media in our collections, but also working closely with our faculty to ensure that we can support them and keep pace with expectations of what we can sustainably provide.
PY: It’s super important because it gives access for students and teachers to use films without it being a financial burden for them. Hundreds of people can watch these unique films year after year. When we started streaming at New Day Films, the filmmaker owned and operated education film cooperative we are members of, we were pushing for the textbook model – that each student pay say $5 for a stream of a film they are assigned and required, just like textbooks. The teachers said, “No, we can’t do that to the students.” But why not when students expect to pay for books? But based on their feedback, at New Day Films, we went for the educational license model where the institutions buy the streams for their libraries and then students and faculty can access them for free.
BE: Over the years, film has proven to be an essential multimedia resource used for instruction. As the delivery of that media has evolved over the years, so have the expectations of faculty and students. DVD players are certainly less available in classrooms and many devices no longer play DVDs. Classrooms are no longer fixed to in person learning and there has long been an expectation on access to resources outside the classroom. This is what streaming facilitates for schools. Librarians are passionate about aligning resources with the needs of their patrons and we’ve seen a mass recognition of the additional value streaming provides from an instructional perspective and certainly the distributed and varied economic situations and circumstances of students these days demands streaming as their vehicle for access to film.
How do you see film being used to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the classroom?
EL: Film is part of our shared historical record. It enables us to see and to some extent, experience, other perspectives and realities. A brief glance at our most highly used titles in Kanopy, for example, shows me that our students are viewing films about race in America, environmental issues, the immigration experience in the U.S., LGBTQ+ issues, women’s rights, and so on. So I perceive these are topics that are being thoughtfully addressed both in our courses and by our community. We also see a growing number of foreign language films being licensed and viewed, which is a powerful tool for language learning, but also greater cross-cultural understanding.
PY: Filmic storytelling has the amazing power to take us to places and introduce us to people we’d never meet. Its emotional component connects us in a way no other medium can. It has a beautiful, powerful language all its own. By telling the stories of and showing films made by underrepresented filmmakers about their communities, we allow these stories to take center stage. Students will feel seen and represented. They can be inspired. The documentary world has been mostly white filmmakers but that is quickly changing, and there is a whole ethical and moral reckoning around who gets to tell the story and who gets funded to tell the story. It is a healthy and welcome change to the filmmaking ecosystem and should be encouraged by filmmakers, professors and librarians alike.
BE: Film allows us to visualize various perspectives that may not otherwise be introduced to us within our communities or peer groups. Empathy is a key driver to why movies are so engaging and the ability to evoke empathy amongst other cultures or races or sexual orientations while developing a better understanding of alternative perspectives outside of our own is absolutely key to furthering inclusivity and movies can be a great medium for facilitating just that.
The cost to purchase a DVD is relatively low and the cost to rent a film on demand is even less, yet the price to purchase DVDs or a streaming license for libraries and educational institutions is often many factors more. Do you think this may prohibit access and use for educational purposes, or is this a good way to balance the needs of filmmakers, distributors, and libraries?
EL: To me, it seems that libraries often don’t get a seat at the table when it comes to streaming films due to cost or other licensing issues. There are several services that cater to libraries specifically, but sometimes, I have a hard time finding educational licenses for particular films, or if I do, they are prohibitively expensive. This is a frustration, because the perception is that a film distributor isn’t interested in liaising with libraries and is more invested in individual commercial rentals. This potentially adversely impacts our most vulnerable students in terms of who can afford access to course materials. However, I see a pretty solid majority of faculty that equate the cost of a film rental for, say, $3.99 as being a totally acceptable cost to a student–it is much cheaper than most textbooks, certainly. We don’t like to pass costs on to the student, but if the library can’t procure a film, or afford a film, that is the current reality–students are directed to make their own arrangements to view a film. I think our faculty is sensitive to this though, and would make accommodations for people experiencing real hardship with this–adjusting requirements or finding alternatives, etc. The individual commercial rental is problematic, in my opinion, because often the rental time is 48 hours or so; this is fine for a viewing perhaps, but if a student wanted to revisit the content, or do closer analysis as they go back to write a paper or study for an exam, a title might have to be rented several times. Another problem that we can’t really help with is certain accommodations for film viewing.If libraries have a licensed digital file of a streaming film, we can help ensure that there are closed captions, transcripts for those who need them, and in some cases, audio descriptions for viewers with visual impairments. We cannot help supply those accommodations or advocate for their wider availability if we are not part of the streaming film ecosystem.
PY: It can be cheaper for a library to buy the license to stream, since hundreds and even thousands of students can stream films. If they had to rent the stream individually it would cost more in the aggregate. In cases where a library doesn’t have the budget or chooses not to license a film that a professor wants to use, we offer the “textbook” model which is that the professor assigns the film to their class which we make available on Vimeo at a cost of less than $5. But that adds up if all the students rent the film. We rarely get requests for DVDs – maybe once a year.
We never deny anyone the use of our films because they don’t have the budget. We’ll negotiate and find an equitable solution because we want our films to be seen. For us, it’s about social capital, not financial. At Skylight, our human rights media organization, we strengthen social justice movements through cinematic storytelling and catalyze collaborative networks of artists and activists. Streaming makes it so much easier to stay mission focused.
BE: The cost to rent a film on demand for one person’s consumption within a short time frame is low. However the cumulative cost of an entire class or campus being required to rent a film made available for only a short period of time is extremely high. I’m not sure you can compare the cost of a single DVD or a single on demand rental with the cost and value provided by a campus wide streaming resource made available to everyone throughout the year because the values are entirely different.
What is the value added by using an aggregator such as Kanopy or Swank for streaming media?
EL: Using aggregators saves us a great deal of time, and I have had good experiences with customer service. One is, of course, limited to what titles they can provide, but their catalogs do have a lot of depth–and once established, the billing and links, catalog records, etc., are very seamless to incorporate into our catalog. The user interface of these aggregators are usually quite easy for our patrons to navigate, and I don’t often run into problems with their platforms. So, those are great values to us.
Depending on which vendor you’re using, there are different tiers of acquisition methods, and we had to pull back from using Kanopy’s “Patron Driven Acquisitions” model, because it was so popular, our annual costs were doubling! This speaks to how well our community loved their films, but we were a bit of a victim of that success because it wasn’t a sustainable budget model for us. So, we had to go back to mediated purchasing, which means we have to purchase title by title. It’s a heavier lift in terms of staff time, and viewers can’t simply activate a film on their own–they have to wait for me to get their request and then figure out “is this movie required course viewing?”, considerations we have to make due to our budget–so that pulling back was a hard decision at first, but ultimately it allowed us to keep offering films in a way that we could keep pace with.
As easy and convenient aggregators can be, I still enjoy getting in touch with filmmakers and working out how to incorporate their work into our collection–I find that rewarding on a personal level. It’s definitely the minority of films we get, but now and then if a filmmaker is not working with Kanopy or Swank, etc., it is still great to connect.
PY: At New Day Films we work with Kanopy because they create a portal specific to universities that is accessible by any student or faculty. Their user interface is very friendly and practical. It increases sales for the filmmakers.
BE: Equitable access, flexibility and aligning with patron needs are the things that come to my mind. Ensuring that when a film or even a film clip is shown in class, students have the ability to reference that moment or the additional context of the film in its entirety after the fact is essential for all learning resources and something that we take for granted with things like textbooks but is often overlooked with film. We see the majority of our film usage occurring outside the classroom and that value is significantly reduced when streaming is unavailable.
From an aggregate perspective, access to streaming resources in our personal lives has never been more available than it is now. However, as streaming has become more available in our personal lives, those resources have also become significantly more siloed and virtually impossible for everyone to have access to everything across all platforms. That is where the value of an aggregator like Swank for education really comes into play. Schools are able to select from a library of tens of thousands of films from hundreds of studios, producers and filmmakers on a single platform, available campus wide for instructional use.
What can librarians, filmmakers, and distributors do to learn more from one another? How can they work better together?
EL: I think we have shared goals–we love films, we want to share them! In many ways, we’re still in the early stages of streaming film–even though at this point it’s hard to imagine the library collection without them. But we’re still in the ‘growing pains' stages of how to offer streaming film. I think it is much like it was when eBooks started coming into prominence. There is very little uniformity across the board–one film will cost $600 for a week license, another film might be $200 for perpetual access, but doesn’t have subtitles, so price varies, licensing terms vary, captioning, transcripts, picture quality–so many aspects of a film can be all over the map. Delivery options are another factor–sometimes when I purchase a streaming license, I get a link to a drop box, sometimes an mp4 file is emailed, sometimes I get a DVD in the mail that I need to rip, and other times I get a flash drive in the mail–again, it’s just not very uniform. I feel like libraries need to speak with one voice about what our expectations are, in terms of what we need and what we’re willing to pay, so it’s at least more of a level playing field, but I guess the market will continue to dictate that more than one librarian’s hopes and wishes. However, if librarians, filmmakers and distributors continue to grow their relationships, these things can be better addressed.
PY: I feel like we are working well now. Media Librarians are our friends. But we can always do better, innovate more broadly and network more extensively. We should create virtual forums on this subject, maybe once a year to keep the dialogue going. Stream Magazine could sponsor the inaugural forum!
BE: Communication is key. Understanding each other’s needs and challenges and opportunities are essential to evolving access for higher education. The film industry has never faced more disruption than it is now and perhaps the same can be said for higher education as well. Aligning the changes within film and digital resource access with libraries and evolving acquisition models of higher education is key to sustainability and affordability and having an ongoing dialog about those changes is paramount to that alignment.
Is there anything else you would like to comment about this topic?
EL: I want to make one comment that will sound a little bit gushy, but I want to express gratitude for the content creators and the folks making quality films and telling important stories. As a librarian, I take pride in being able to help offer students what they need to learn and broaden their perspectives, and I hope I can sustainably do that while being a good steward of a limited budget.
PY: The more that films are locked up by the big streamers like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO Prime the more it takes control of the film away from the independent filmmakers. At New Day Films we work the distribution of the films and do multi-year outreach and engagement campaigns to get them into the classrooms with additional materials like study guides for the teachers and companion interactive websites to go deeper and broader. Therefore, it’s important for independent filmmakers to have a source of income from educational distribution to help them sustain their work and their lives, and that’s the thinking behind New Day Films.
BE: Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the conversation!
