[Eril-l] limiting Kanopy

[Ambi, Alison]

We too have just been forced by runaway expenses to start mediating our Kanopy purchases. 

Kanopy explained that limiting by user was too problematic in an academic setting where students might be required to watch films for course assignments. It would be especially frustrating if a student was prevented from doing their homework at 1:00 AM because they had exceeded their Kanopy limit! In a public library setting where we can assume that most viewing is recreational these types of restrictions are more practical.

The Kanopy PDA sales model is clearly not sustainable for many libraries, and our current migration en masse to mediated purchasing is surely going to start hurting their bottom line. The mediated approach is not great either, and results in a significant drain on staff time. I hope they find a way to adjust their model so that we can all continue to provide this often unique content to our students and faculty!

Alison

Alison Ambi
Head, Collections Strategies
Memorial University of Newfoundland

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> On Behalf Of Mark Gooch
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2019 9:37 AM
To: Amy Lynn Fry <afry at bgsu.edu>; Eril-l at lists.eril-l.org
Subject: Re: [Eril-l] limiting Kanopy

I find the responses Amy received to be interesting.  Did they explain why they were able to load patron accounts for public libraries but not academic libraries?  I wouldn't expect the numbers to be much different.  I don't know the language they used but their lack of interest to create additional options in support of academic libraries says a lot.

So far (knock on wood) we have been able to continue with unmediated access.  We are spending about $1,500-$2,000 per month.  We have been able to accommodate this so far as we have reduced the number of DVDs we have purchased and we discovered an endowed fund we can use to also assist with these costs.  We did send out a communication to faculty and staff explaining the cost for Kanopy titles.  We had one faculty member respond how good the Kanopy collection was and she had planned to watch a number of films (for personal enjoyment) but wouldn't now that she was aware of the pricing.

Maybe this is a bit much but if Kanopy continues to be unwilling to better accommodate academic libraries, maybe we should all move to mediated access which could have some financial impact for them and send a message.
On 3/13/19 4:07 PM, Amy Lynn Fry wrote:
I was wondering if anyone out there had come up with a way to limit Kanopy use successfully. What did you do? How much did it make a difference to your spend?

Evidently, for public libraries, Kanopy loads all patron accounts and libraries can limit each person to a certain number of streams per month. I asked Kanopy about that at ER&L last week and they said there was no way that would be possible for academic libraries.

I also asked if they had thought about making ways for us to limit besides only by subject or provider, and they said no and that they weren't interested in creating additional options.

Without other good alternatives, we are planning to change our entire Kanopy profile to mediated after this semester and thereafter only approve license requests made by faculty and perhaps graduate students.

Has anyone else made this switch?

What about alternatives to Kanopy? The content and access are good and obviously filling a need in our user population, but Kanopy's business model is just not a good fit for our budget limits. Is there another service that could be a substitute?

Amy Fry
Associate Professor, E-resources Librarian Jerome Library Bowling Green, OH 43403 afry at bgsu.edu<mailto:afry at bgsu.edu>
email is the best way to reach me


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