Streaming Video

• St. Olaf and Carleton own over 15,000 films on DVD and Blu Ray. 
• A larger selection of films is always available via streaming services and discoverable in Catalyst, the library catalog.
• If you require online access to a film for a course, please submit a Library Materials Purchase Request. The library will provide streaming access to films whenever possible.
• Please note that films licensed through Kanopy and Swank have expiration dates. These dates are noted immediately below the online access link in the Catalyst records:
  

The St Olaf College Libraries contract with more than 40 different providers to meet the community’s curricular and extracurricular film/video needs. All streaming video available through the library has been licensed for public performance. 

Whenever possible, the library also purchases public performance rights for films that are only available on DVD, blu ray, etc. Each catalyst record contains a note indicating performance rights for that title. The note can be found under the DETAILS subheading, toward the bottom of the record, as in the example below:

Public Performance Rights (PPR) allow groups (clubs, etc.) to advertise. Charging entry fees or donations (to raise funds for a group or cause) is prohibited.

DVDs or blu ray without PPR, can be shown in the classroom or assigned for viewing as part of a course. Things get a little muddier with extracurricular showings. Though showings of content without PPR licensing violates copyright,  a “showing” for a very small group (for example, a 10- to 15-member student-club, advertised via campus fliers and the club mailing list, and in an empty classroom, followed by discussion among the viewers) could conceivably be argued to fall under Fair Use for educational purposes. Broader showings of DVDs or blu ray without PPR are increasingly problematic. Will you get sued? Probably not. Is it legal and ethical? No.  

Please be advised: “Fair Use for educational purposes” is wildly over-applied in academia, and places both individuals and the institution at risk. The legal and most ethical option is to contact the library to see if we can acquire PPR for the film you want to show, or choose a different film to view together.

*If you, your faculty, staff, or student colleagues have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to either your library liaison, or to Mary Barbosa-Jerez, Head of Strategy for Library Collections & Archives, at barbosa@stolaf.edu.