The Burden of Access: Patron Driven Acquisitions for Streaming Video on a Small Campus

The Burden of Access: Patron Driven Acquisitions for Streaming Video on a Small Campus

Carver Room

There is a great deal in the literature about the benefits of streaming video for faculty and students, and many articles tout the patron driven acquisitions (PDA) model which allows a large amount of content to be made available while ensuring that the library only pays for what is used. However, it is notable that a significant percentage of these articles and conference presentations have focused on large universities and systems that have substantial budgets and have leveraged streaming video as a way to enhance access to a sizeable patron base.

Three years ago we opened PDA for streaming video on the Kanopy platform. The intention was to spend approximately $5,000 per year in support of open pedagogy and flipped classrooms. To date we have spent $30,000 despite attempts to rein in spending by closing certain packages by subject and/or production company, an amount that is unsustainable for a small library approaching its fourth straight year of budget cuts. A dive into the Kanopy data has revealed that not only has much of this spend been redundant and rather fiscally irresponsible on paper, but also that faculty have not been using the platform as intended.

In this presentation I will take attendees through the data analysis I have conducted, including overlap analysis, cost data and comparison, and amount of video accessed, and tackle the essential question that my library is facing: Does the educational benefit of streaming video justify its cost, and how do you reconcile those two factors on a small campus with a limited budget? Attendees will gain an understanding of what to expect if they embark on a streaming video program in their small-to-medium sized libraries, the potential pitfalls that they should be on the lookout for, and some ideas for moving forward under a different collections model.