Streaming video at Duke Libraries...we like to watch

Fall 2010 classes are almost upon us. The Library of Congress has just loosened its stranglehold on the creation of video clips from encrypted DVDs in the Higher Ed sphere (read Duke Scholarly Communications guru, Kevin Smith's, take on the new exceptions). On-demand/pay-per-view is predicted to displace DVD sales in the not-so-distant future. Online sites like Hulu and provide temporary access to titles, but these can disappear overnight. What is Duke Libraries' plan to collect new films as the tension mounts between our ability to give immediate digital access to patrons and the necessity to provide long term preservation as a top-tier research institution?

One strategy we're implementing is investment in streaming video databases. We now subscribe to a number of products that allow for easier browsing, keyword searching at the segment level, and embedding clips and even (dare I say it!) entire films in course management software like Blackboard. Alexander Street Press' American History in Video and Ethnographic Video Online, Films on Demand from Films Media Group, and PBS titles brought to us by NC Live Video Collection, join the BBC Shakespeare Video Collection as packages of streaming video that make thousands of titles available to Duke patrons.

Alexander Street Press' offerings will soon include the option of downloading to mobile devices. And a new streaming video library, Asia Pacific Films, will be added to Duke Libraries' subscription holdings by the start of the fall 2010 semester. All products provide the capability of creating playlists of custom clips and annotating for teaching purposes.

Let me also take this opportunity to recommend the two moving image collections available in our Digital Collections, AdViews, and the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Video Archive that are accessible via Duke Libraries' YouTube channel and iTunes U.

Film titles in streaming video products are available anywhere, anytime. These databases are well-equipped to address one of the needs articulated above--ease of discovery--while leaving the question of long term access out of the equation for the time being. First things first.

Stay-tuned for future posts that will answer really pressing video questions, like why doesn't Lilly Library have TMNT on Blu-ray!?!